Damned If You Do
by isabeanfuzz
Summary: The devil is alive and well and living inside the body of a patient's daughter, or so House's team has been told. But sometimes the truth is more shocking than fiction.
1. The Crazies at the Door

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these guys except the ones you don't recognize, so don't sue me, I have way too many college loans to pay off.

Damned If You Do

By Isabeanfuzz

It was thirty three degrees out and the weather forecasters kept coming over the radio stating that mid-thirties would be the high for the day. The crowd outside the hospital door seemed to grow despite the freezing weather and it seemed to Wilson as he attempted to wend his way through them that they were shouting simply to keep warm. They were there, wrapped from head to foot in wool and fleece, toting signs of Anna Stymend and poster board that read "Abortion is Murder!" in bright red paint. Wilson kept his eyes to the pavement, trying to keep his focus on his goal…the door. He was almost there, just a few steps. Suddenly a short woman wearing a hand made snow hat with a large flower on the front leapt out in front of him, shoving a sign of a fetus in his face.

"Murderer! Murder!" The woman spat and huge puffs of steam formed around her face. Wilson smiled sheepishly and gently pushed past her, finally getting through the door. He heaved a sigh of relief when he felt the warmth of the lobby take hold of his body. But his relief soon turned to curiosity when he looked up and saw House standing at the balcony with a lollipop in his mouth. Wilson rolled up his coat sleeve to glance at his watch, he even tapped it to make sure that it was still working.

"You're early." He called up after determining that it was still functioning.

"You're pathetic." House yelled back sounding like a five year old.

"You're a coward." Wilson continued and stepped into the now open elevator.

"You're a…" House realized that the lobby was empty and spun when he heard the elevator ding and the doors open. Wilson smirked and emerged, thinking that his trick had worked and he had finally won a name calling match with House.

"Wait, I'm a coward?" House asked limping up to him, cherry lollipop poised in his other hand. "I'm not the one that gave the crazies at the door a vanilla smile."

"No, you're the one that came in a full hour early to avoid dealing with them. You read your e-mail." Wilson still felt that he had won as he continued to the nurses station to pick up that morning's files, House trailing after him.

"I did read my e-mail and apparently there are four eighteen year old girls who want to lick me in my pleasure zone." With that House popped the lollipop back into his mouth and turned once more when the elevator doors opened again. Cuddy stepped out looking thread bare and stifled.

"Ah, here comes our fearless leader," House quipped, "I'm thinking we could steal one of the garbage cans from the janitorial closet and dump hot oil on them like the good old days."

"I can't believe there are so many of them." Cuddy grumbled leaning against the nurses station as if it was her life raft and running a hand over her face.

"Has the press showed up yet?" Wilson asked almost feeling bad about asking moments later.

"No, not yet. But Harris over at Memorial says they've been camped out on the front lawn since dawn. Although I don't really think we're going to be getting much here, probably just local coverage." She paused for a moment, just long enough for everyone in the hallway to hear the crowd getting louder and louder. "This is going to be a long day."

"Here's what I don't understand," House began over the lollipop, "Anna Stymend dies during a routine abortion and that's what pisses these people off."

"And your point is?" Wilson settled in.

"My point is, they shouldn't be picketing, they should be partying. Another witch has been burned on the stake. Once again God proves his existence and his love for us by protecting us from the evil fifteen year old who got herself knocked up."

Just then there was the clicking of several pairs of shoes coming down the corridor as Cameron, Chase and Foreman joined the group at the nurses station. Cameron wore a look of utter disgust as she edged up next to desk. Chase and Foreman watched her for a moment and then shared a small smirk.

"It's not funny," she shot at them, "it's disgusting. What kind of kid would allow his friends to dare him to stick a golf ball up his…"

House cut her off mid-sentence. "Kid's poop shoot cleaned out?"

"So glad you decided to try to be professional today. It's really nice to think that we won't be giving the pro-lifers a reason to think that all doctors are immature, mindless, idiots." Cuddy quipped, turning towards House with an exhausted look on her face.

"My thoughts exactly, which is why I was about to send my team home." House through the now empty lollipop stick in the garbage can and prepared himself to leave.

Chase stepped in front of him, determined.

"What? That's the third time this week. I didn't get out of bed, take a shower and drive all the way here just to pull a Titelist out of some kid's rectum."

"Well, apparently today, Dr. Chase, you did. And if you haven't noticed we have a severe lack of patients and a lack of patients means…"

"Clinic duty." For the first time all morning Cuddy's face began to lighten slightly. There may have even been a slight smile on her face, but one would have to look very carefully to notice it. The hallway got immensely silent as everyone's faces began to look as disgusted as Cameron's once was.

"Look," Cuddy breathed, "if anyone sees doctors leaving this hospital in the middle of a protest, it's going to reflect poorly on me and the hospital. No one is going anywhere."

"Well, one of us is going to his office." House stated, grabbing another lollipop from the bowl on the desk and shoving past Chase.

"And that would be Wilson." Cuddy yelled after him, raising an eyebrow and placing a hand on her hip. House stopped dead in his tracks.

"No, that would be me, hence the reason why I'm walking to my office."

"You call that walking?" Wilson smirked.

"Shut up." House shot back.

"No, you still owe me twenty hours this month and like you said, you don't have any patients." House sighed, he knew that there was really nothing else that could be done. How could he have been so careless? He would justify it by the fact that there were fifty insane people outside the door to the hospital creating a distraction. But as House stood there, he noticed something. The yelling outside the glass downstairs was nearly gone now, nearly gone save for one voice yelling.

"Help her! Someone help her!" The group of doctors rushed to the balcony and saw the woman with the flower knit cap crouched over another woman who was laying flat on the cold concrete, a sign of Anna flopped across her chest. The woman was unconscious, the flower lady yelling over the top of her, banging on the glass door with her fist.

"Maybe I was wrong," House said, watching the scene unfold in front of him, "maybe there is a God."


	2. The Saved and the Damned

In moments, the woman was on a gurney being rushed into the ER. The woman in the flower hat shuffling close behind, dragging the sign with the fetus next to her.

"Do you know this woman?" Foreman asked her as he pushed the gurney into the nearest curtained area.

"Y…y…yes, she's my neighbor." The woman stammered watching Cameron and Chase begin to use their pen lights to check the woman's pupils.

"What's her name?" Foreman continued, realizing this woman was going to need all of the information dragged out of her.

"Beverly, Beverly Hopwood." The woman's eyes were huge as she stood stalk still in the middle of the may lay, the doctors having to shove their way around her, just to get to the patient.

"Sooooo, what happened? Had a change of heart?" The voice came from behind them, causing the flower lady to jump and spin around to find House leaning on his cane, glaring at her. "Not very neighborly letting known murderers touch your friend." The woman was in too much shock to say anything. She simply stood with the knit flower now nearly coming down over her eyes, staring at the strange man with the unkempt hair and cane.

"You do know you're going to have to burn that now?" House stated glaring at the fetus protest poster gripped in the woman's hand which was crinkling on the floor. "It's in bad taste to let the embryo touch the floor." With that, the woman was pulled out of the hypnotic state that House's arrival had placed her in and yanked the sign from the tile.

"Who are you?" The flower lady began, pushing her hat out of her eyes, so she could get a better look at House.

"Oh, just another knife wheeling hack in a white coat, trying to rid the world of innocent children and single mothers." House snapped leaning in on his cane.

"This is Dr. House." Cameron sighed as she took Beverly's wrist. "Her pulse is thready and weak."

"What does that mean?" The flower lady pushed her way in between Chase and Foreman gapping at Beverly. House limped forward and pushed through all of them, taking Beverly's wrist in his palm and pinched the back of her hand. The skin remained stiff for a few moments before going back down to its normal position.

"Damn it." House sighed.

"Excuse me?" The flower lady cringed at the sound of the swear word.

"There's nothing wrong with her. She's just dehydrated. Get some saline into her, she'll be back out on the picket lines in a couple hours." He was angry, he wasn't needed here and neither was his team. God was dead and Cuddy would get her way. Cameron began the IV drip and in a matter of minutes Beverly started coming around. Her eyes fluttered and she groaned, shifting around on the gurney, confused and aching from the fall.

"Beverly?" The flower lady pushed her way back through the crowd of doctors to stand next to Beverly, taking her hand in hers.

"Where am I?" Beverly breathed, squinting against the bright florescent lights of the ER.

"Death row," House quipped, "I'm Ted Bundy". He pointed to Chase, "Over there is Charles Manson, this is Lizzy Borden and the black guys is…well, he's black, isn't that enough?"

Foreman sighed, making his way to where Beverly could see him.

"You're in the hospital. You collapsed outside. You're friend, Mrs.?" He suddenly realized the flower lady had been standing there talking to them for a while now and they never found out her name.

"Wendy Baites." The flower lady stated, finally finding her voice.

"Mrs. Baites, brought you in. You're dehydrated, we started a saline drip. You should be fine in a few hours."

"Wendy." Beverly whined, "I told you I never wanted to come to one of these places, never." She pushed herself up in the bed, eyebrows knit, teeth clenched.

"Beverly, you collapsed, I was scared." Wendy started adjusted her hat again, this time as a nervous reaction.

"Then you should have prayed for me, not brought me in here." It was at this point that Beverly began to try to rip the IV out of her arm, Cameron rushed forward, grabbing her wrist to stop her.

"Mrs. Hopwood.." She began.

"MS." The woman corrected

"Sorry, Ms. Hopwood, you may feel better, but it's only because of this IV. You need to leave it in." Cameron kept her hand on Beverly's, nervous that the moment she let go saline would be flowing all over the floor.

"I'm dehydrated? Well, then give me a glass of water and I would thank you…doctor," she said this word with complete loathing in her voice, "to take your hands off me." Cameron looked from Beverly's face to Chase's and Foreman's hoping for some help. She found none and so slowly removed her hand from the woman's clammy wrist.

"Makes no sense anyway," Beverly continued, as she pulled the IV from her arm, sending saline shooting from the end, "how could I get dehydrated in the middle of the winter. Ridiculous." Chase grabbed the tube flowing saline onto the floor and pinched it off, looking completely put out with this woman.

"What's ridiculous is how a woman in her forties doesn't realize that summer isn't the only time the human body sweats. You must be a pleasure at holiday parties, not wearing deodorant or taking showers." House muttered from behind the mob, playing with his cane by spinning it on its tip. Beverly looked around trying to find the source of the voice insulting her.

"This is Dr. House." Cameron stated for the second time that day, she was beginning to feel sick of it.

"Is that the way you talk to all of your patients doctor?" Beverly snapped, clumsily rising from the bed and using the rail on the side to steady herself.

"No, I only talk this way to the ones who are showing signs of increasing lack of mental capacity, have a severe case of stupidity and are plagued with moments of massive decreased brain cell usage. So, yeah, I guess you're right, I do talk to all of my patients like this."

"You see Wendy, this is why these places need to be stopped. This is why Anna Stymend is dead because of doctors like doctor House here." Beverly was picking up her coat from the gurney at this point shooting dagger eyes at Dr. House.

"That's right, anyone with a stethoscope is pure evil." He bit at her limping forward.

"Dr. House," she was inches from his face now, her eyes bulging and voice shaking, "I have looked in the face of evil, I've battled it for fifteen years. The devil is alive and well. Anna Stymend's death was just the beginning. Those people out there, out there doing the lord's work, they will be saved. But you, you and all of your baby killing warlocks, you will be damned to the depths. And I will not cry for you."

It was completely silent in the ER and Beverly stood, bottom lip quivering with anger, glaring at House, who hadn't broken her stare since she began talking. All of a sudden out of no where House raised his hands and began to clap, causing all in the room to jump. He fained tears and shook his head in awe.

"Amazing, amazing, that," he put his hand over his heart, "was an incredible performance, a bit over the top, but I think the audience will buy it, I mean you are playing a complete psycho, right? I think I hear an Oscar nomination in your future."

"I've had enough." Beverly snapped, throwing her scarf around her neck and beginning to head for the door of the ER, grabbing her Anna Stymend sign leaning up against the wall as she did so. "Come on Wendy." The flower lady jumped at the sound of her name and began to follow the woman towards the door and the sound of the protesters outside continuing their rally. But Beverly only got a few steps before she stopped, her face drained of all color and she collapsed once more on the floor with a loud bang. This time the handle of her protest poster snapped completely in half under her weight, sending shards of wood flying all around the hallway.

"Beverly!" Wendy yelled, dropping her sign once more and rushing to the woman's side.

"And the winner for most dramatic performance, drum roll please, Beverly Hopwood." House announced over the commotion.


	3. The Devil

Beverly Hopwood was back in the gurney, saline drip in her hand. She moaned in her sleep, making her already stern face appear more rigid. Wendy sat next to the bed watching her neighbor's chest rise and fall, a Bible in her lap which she would glance down at from time to time and mouth silent words. Cameron watched the scene from outside the glass walls of the room and shook her head before turning to the rest of the team which was leaning against the nurses station looking bored.

"She's been unconscious for over an hour." She sighed, looking once more at her watch. "She must have been without fluids for a while."

"Doing the Lord's work takes a lot out of you," House began, "including your intelligence." House was watching the patient through the glass as well, but his mind was swimming. He had seen these cases come in over and over, people who thought they knew God and that he actually cared whether they lived or died. He wondered how that kind of thought began, this blind, almost dog like mindset. This woman was prepared to die for it, her only reason for remaining in their care now was the fact that she was unconscious.

From inside the room, Wendy looked once more at Beverly and stood. She looked out the window, as if in deep thought. She blinked and let her eyes wander about the room for a moment. Her flower hat had been removed from her head half an hour ago and was now nearly tied in a knot in her hands. Her eyes were so full of emotion, it was the first time since the team had met her that there was something in them besides anger and utter confusion. They watched her now and it seemed that the emotion that filled them now was not one of sadness or anger, but of deep seeded fear. She swallowed and made her way to the door, nodding as she did as if trying to convince herself to perform a horrible task that needed to be done. She opened the door and came out into the hallway, strangling the hat in her hand until the knitted fibers began to loose their shape. Doctor House turned, pretending to ignore her or not even see her. Wendy stood directly in front of them, silent, looking from face to face. Cameron was surprised to see a tear beginning to form in her left eye, one that swelled and finally trickled down her cheek.

"Your friend is going to be alright." Cameron tried, feeling almost sorry for this woman that only moments later was calling she and her colleges murders and baby killers. "She was just extremely dehydrated. We're going to continue to re-hydrate her and when she regains consciousness she'll be able to go home." Wendy opened her mouth as if to say something and then snapped it shut again. Her eyes flicked about the tile on the floor as she tried to make up her mind and then she did.

"You won't be able to help her," she whispered. Chase sighed, he had been in a seminary and new how hopeful religious people could be, most times he admired this quality, but today, he found it more irritating then admirable.

"Look, Mrs. Baites, I believe in the power of prayer," he began.

"Oh God." House groaned still with his back to the woman. Chase waited, giving his boss an exasperated look.

"But, I believe that in some cases modern medicine is the best course of action. You saw what happened when we took out the IV." Wendy nodded, surprising all of them. House turned, shocked that he hadn't heard an unintelligent rebuttal.

"But you won't be able to help her and neither will I. She's going to die." Wendy stared at the floor, not looking up as another tear fell from her cheek.

"What makes you say that?" Foreman was interested now, this woman was terrified.

"She's been battling the devil and he's winning."

"We know and we're all doomed to hell, or didn't you up her performance to the top of your que on Netflix." Wendy didn't even react to House's comment, as if she was growing used to them.

"Beverly's been battling evil in her own home, Doctor House."

"She didn't buy a Roomba did she?"

"What do you mean?" Foreman broke in. Wendy's hands were beginning to shake and she swallowed hard as if her mouth had gone dry. She looked backed down at the floor and then shut her eyes.

"It's Addison, she's doing this to her."

"Who's Addison?" Wendy's eyes opened, tear filled and stared hard into Cameron's.

"Beverly's daughter." The doctor's exchanged looks of confusion. It was silent for a moment before Cameron continued her line of questioning.

"Does Addison get abusive?" Wendy swallowed hard again, trying to control her emotions, but failing miserably. She turned towards Beverly's room, looking briefly at her own reflection in the glass.

"Addison isn't normal Dr. Cameron. She isn't human. When Beverly was carrying her she would get so sick, she had to stay in bed for weeks at a time. I've seen hundreds of pregnant women, never any with those kinds of complications. She would get nose bleeds, shake uncontrollably, and yell in her sleep. She said it felt like the baby was tearing her apart every time it kicked. She was so sick, we asked our pastor to give her a blessing. He was a young man, new to the town. He came to house to give the blessing, he put his hand on her stomach and the moment his fingers touched her skin, he died. The man died, he was thirty two years old and the moment he touched Beverly's stomach, he fell to the floor and died. Addison killed him. She's not a child of God, Doctor, she's the devil."


	4. The Devil's Army

"The woman is completely crazy." Foreman began after everyone had taken a seat in the conference room.

"That's an understatement." Chase sighed taking a sip of his coffee and leaning back in his chair.

"Chase, I'm surprised at you. A man of the church turning his back on a fellow believer? Not very Christ like." House looked out the window watching the snow fall and to his joy, the protesters began to thin out in front of the hospital.

"What if she's not lying?" Cameron began. Suddenly all eyes were on her and every eye brow was raised.

"You actually believe this woman's daughter is possessed by the devil?" Foreman laughed.

"Of course not, but…"

"Cameron, I'm surprised at you. A woman who believes everything that comes out of her patient's mouth? Not very Cameron like." House limped to a chair by the side of the table and began to spin his cane.

"But," she emphasized this, rolling her eyes, "there may still be a problem. What would make a woman believe that her daughter was possessed by the devil?"

"What mother doesn't think their kid is possessed by the devil? The minute she starts wearing more black instead of pink, starts listening to cds with explicit lyrics. A woman as… religious as Beverly is probably didn't see any other alternative." Foreman continued, feeling bored out his mind and aching for a real case.

"Addison has been thought of as evil since she was an embryo. My parents didn't think that about me until I was at least five." Suddenly House's eyes looked different. There was a slight twinkle to his eye now, the kind of look he got when he was working on an interesting case. He was quiet for a moment and the others looked at each other wondering what was about to happen.

"What are you saying?" Chase couldn't take it anymore.

"Maybe Cameron's got a point." There was more silence in the room. But Cameron seemed the most dumbstruck. Usually she would have had to battle it out a bit more before her way was even considered. Just then the silence was broken by the sound of three pagers going off. Everyone jumped slightly and then fumbled to stop the beeping. Chase looked down at the number.

"It's Beverly, she's spiked a fever."

The team rushed down the hallway to the only vacated room in the wing. Nurses were already running to the room carrying needles.

"Get away from me!" Beverly was screaming. Her hair was wild around her face, sweat pouring down her forehead and cheeks. She was lashing out at anybody who came near her. Wendy stood next to the bed looking completely taken a back.

"Stop Beverly, please," she tried, "they're just trying to help."

"I don't need their help, you stupid bitch!"

"Was that a curse word I just heard?" House entered the room calmly, watching the chaos in front of him with almost a satisfactory look on his face.

"You'll burn in hell, the lot of you! You are accosting a missionary of God!" Beverly was screaming so loud that a vein was beginning to pulse out of her forehead. A nurse carrying a sedative advanced foreword out of the crowd.

"Keep away from me damn it!" Beverly's arm came back and with one swift moment dug her fingernails into the nurses arm, making her wail in pain. Chase rushed in and grabbed Beverly's drenched arm, using all of his strength the pry her out of the nurse's arm. "The devil will send his multitudes to bring down the souls of the benevolent and his army will come in the form of man and beast and all creation!" She spat at him over the nurse's cries.

"What's her temperature?" House asked continuing to remain calm.

"104.3" Another nurse yelled over all the noise.

"I think that's enough to make her delusional, don't you?" House limped forward, and before anyone could stop him, made a fist and punched Beverly squarely in the face. Suddenly everything became silent, Beverly sunk back into the pillows on her bed. The hand that was dug into the nurse finally released and she was suddenly surrounded by others trying to help her. Chase felt as though he had run a marathon as he stepped away from the bed and sat in the chair beside the window. Wendy gapped at her unconscious friend not knowing whether to feel relieved or furious. House simply stood shaking out his hand, lost in deep thought. There was a case here, finally after weeks an agonizing dry spell he had a case.

"You punched out another patient." Cuddy sat behind her desk, not even wanting to look up at the team in front of him. She kept her head down, resting in her hand, pretending to paperwork.

"Is this meeting because boys aren't supposed to hit girls or because you wanted to inform us that the nurse shortage around here was going to get even more severe? Let me just say up front that I don't do bedpans and peach isn't my color." Cuddy's eyes finally rose from the paperwork and glared at House.

"This woman was brought into the hospital and detained here against her will, then to top it all off, one of our doctors accosts her. Not to mention the fact that all this occurred on the very day that every hospital in this state is being scrutinized. Your timing is impeccable." Cuddy sighed and rose from her chair, folding her arms and leaning against her desk.

"She has a daughter." Cameron spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Great, that means I can add one more angry phone call to the quickly growing list of ones I already have."

"If Beverly's condition is due to an environmental issue, her daughter may be at risk. The fever was making her delusional and she was placing health care workers in danger. We could use that as our official position on the issue couldn't we?" Cameron stood firm in front of Cuddy's desk, now mirroring her stance of folded arms and rigid legs. Cuddy watched Cameron for a moment and silently cursed House for all of the "training" he was giving his team, especially his training of cutting through red tape. After a few moments, she rolled her eyes and crossed back behind her desk, picking up the phone.

"You have one day." As the team was leaving through the door, they could hear Cuddy on the phone with the local newspaper, clearly returning a call that she had received earlier and Cameron could swear that she could hear her own words being said to the person on the other end.


	5. Chase's Fear

Chase waited for a moment outside the room staring at Beverly looking up at the ceiling of her room. Her only movements came in blinks and nothing else. For a moment, Chase felt guilty and the guilt made his throat feel swollen. She was being held here against her will. The hospital was going to be in a lot of financial trouble, he had helped to put the restraints on her, his hands were as dirty as everyone else's. He remembered meeting plenty of people like Beverly while he was attending school. People like her were one of the many reasons he had decided to leave. Yet as he stood there, watching her, he began to remember what it felt like to have faith so strong that it consumed and filled all of the places in his life that were empty and made him feel like every day was truly a gift. Some nights, when it was late and the only sounds around him were sirens and the couple next door screaming at each other again about bills, he secretly wished he could go back to that blind faith he had held so dear at one point. But like a child that has found out the truth behind Santa Claus, Chase knew that there was no way back. his life and his beliefs had completely changed since his time in the seminary. With these thoughts fueling his steps, Chase sighed and entered the room, running a slightly shaky hand through his hair.

"How are you feeling Beverly?" He began, because he could think of no other way to begin and the silence of the room and the snow falling outside was deafening. Beverly was quiet, the only sound leaving her body was the sound of her breathing. Chase swallowed hard and stepped closer to the bed, feeling a sense of immense safety at the thought of this woman being restrained.

"I'm sorry about this," he looked into her vacant eyes and then bit his bottom lip, "we're just afraid that your condition might be environmental. If it is, your daughter's health will also be at stake." Suddenly Beverly twitched slightly in bed, turning her face towards Chase. She stared at him blankly with fully dilated pupils. Chase could tell now that her calmness was due to heavy sedatives.

"Who told you about my daughter?" Her voice was soft and raspy through her cracked lips.

"Your friend, Mrs. Baites." She was talking to him, not yelling or struggling. Even though Chase knew full well that it was drug induced cooperation, he felt a slight tug of ease as he pulled a chair up to the bed.

"That woman is not my friend and I have no daughter." Beverly continued to glare at Chase. The dim light from the room and the silence of hospital wing gave Chase the impression that it was only he and this woman left it the world. And as he stared into her eyes, he began to feel uneasy.

"You don't have a daughter named Addison?" He began to sit back further in the chair, just enough to help with this sudden feeling of overwhelming dread that had begun to fill his entire body.

"I had a baby once, I named her Addison after my grandmother," Beverly's eyes were huge and yet dead at the same time, "her father was a good for nothing bastard who swore that I would be the only woman in his life. I met him before I met God, I met him before I had the sight to see the evil inside of him. I told him that I was pregnant, the next morning I woke up to an empty bed and a bastard child growing in my stomach. It was then that I realized I was simply a vessel for this man, a way for him to create more evil in the world. One night I took out a knitting needle, put it in the fire and prepared myself to kill it. That's when I saw God, he spoke to me through the flames in the fire. He told me that killing my child was against his law and that it was my duty to deliver this evil into the world. At last God would know where the devil was at all times, with his soul inside the body of my child, he was contained, he could be controlled."

Chase was speechless, the hair on the back of his neck prickled to attention as every nerve in his body began to fill with fear. What had the team walked into? The woman laying in bed had not broken her eye contact with him. She lay in the stillness of the room, completely consumed with the face in front of her.

"Beverly, where is your daughter?" Chase asked after a long silence. Beverly's face slid into a wide grin, making Chase's heart begin to race.

"On her way to Hell, Doctor."

Chase raced down the hallway back towards the conference room. His mind was racing along with his heart. He passed by the window to find everyone where he had left them, continuing to discuss possible causes for Beverly's fever and aggression, everyone's continued to look a little dazed. Upon hearing Chase's shoes clattering up the hallway everyone looked up from their notes and quickly shared the same confused look.

"We need to go to Beverly's house!" He breathed, trying desperately to catch his breath as he entered the conference room.

"Amazing Captain Blood Work! You've completed an entire series of blood tests in less than an hour, where do you get your incredible powers from?" House exclaimed turning back to the white board and clicking the marker cap on and off as he concentrated on the symptoms written down.

"I didn't even get a chance to draw the blood." Chase continued over his exploding lungs.

"Then what were you doing the last fifteen minutes? Wait, don't tell me, your sweaty, your heart's racing, you two were practicing your missionary positions weren't you?" House continued, not even turning from the board this time.

"House, SHUT UP!" Chase yelled. Everyone jumped, shocked at what was going on. House spun from the white board, finally staring Chase in the eye, trying to hide his surprise. All eyes were on him, each one looking confused and interested.

"Beverly's daughter, I think she's in trouble."

"What happened Lassie, did Addison fall down the well again?" House quipped trying to prove he wasn't shaken by Chase's yelling.

"I don't know what's going on, but something is. We need to go to Beverly's house now." Chase struggled to contain his panic, wishing that he could be on the road now instead of trying to spoon feed all of this to them.

"And by we, you mean…?" Foreman started, sighing slightly.

"I'll go by myself if I have to, God what is wrong with you people?" Chase huffed reaching over to the chair beside him a yanking his coat from the back of it. House watched him for a minute, he had really never seen him look so determined, and the fact that he had stood up to him had definitely not left his mind.

"Hell, let's all go. I could use a little fresh air and it appears Chase could use a little humility. You get your permissions slips signed kids?"


	6. The Hopwood House

The roads were horrible. The ice was thick and patchy and from the backseat of Chase's car, Foreman was having a difficult time seeing the speedometer. The car skidded for the third time since they had left the parking lot and he could swear that he saw House's knuckles get white as he gripped the handle of the door.

"Chase, what kind of tires do you have on this thing?" Foreman finally couldn't hold back his fear.

"All seasons." Chase snapped back.

"All seasons? Are you kidding me? It's the middle of January." Foreman laughed, more out of nervousness than anything else.

"I've always used all seasons and I've never had any problem with them." Chase slammed on the breaks again and the car went into a severe fish tail.

"When you say, you've always used them, does that include your dad's chauffeur too?" Foreman slashed back.

"What are you saying?" Suddenly Chase's eyes were no longer on the road, but glaring at Foreman in the rear view mirror.

"It sounds like he's saying that you are a immasculated yuppie who should have been hijacking cars instead of riding in them." House cut in, his grip getting more anxious on the handle.

"That's not what I was saying." Foreman sighed staring out the window at the patches of ice growing larger and larger.

"Oh, well then that's what I was saying." House quipped as he grabbed Chase's face in his hand forcing him to stare out the windshield. Chase gave a quick breath in out of shock and over compensated into another ice patch. The car skidded once more as Chase slammed on the breaks again.

"If you were so concerned about my driving habits, why didn't you suggest we take your car?" Chase was trying harder to remain focused on the road. House's grip began to slacken.

"The roads are bad, Winchester's worse than it is here." Foreman was slightly quieter now. Chase flashed him another annoyed look in the rear view mirror. There was a long silence where the front seat and the back seat decided to stare at the road instead of continue the testosterone match. Chase was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Does anyone else feel bad about leaving Cameron alone with the abusive patient?"

"Maybe I would have if I hadn't gotten into the car with you." House snipped. Chase was going to blow, he had taken enough of their abuse for one day. He was just about to say something when he felt a hard tap on his shoulder.

"Winchester, right here." On Foreman's alert, Chase snapped out of his "coma" again and turned onto the street.

The street was perky. The kind of perky that created perfectly manicured lawns in the summer and neighborhood block parties. In the winter, the lawns were littered with snowmen and children in snowsuits who didn't have school. The Hopwood house was the last one on the street and dispute the perky atmosphere around the house, the building itself seemed odd. The paint was chipping and the icicles that hung from the roof were huge, tipping all the way down to the ground, indicating bad insulation from every corner.

"Looks like we're not the only ones who think this woman has some issues. The neighbors probably think she's a body snatcher. How dare she not get a welcome mat with her last name etched into it. " House glared at the neighbors' children who had stopped throwing snowballs at each other to watch the strange man with the limp begin to make his way up the walk to the Hopwood house. Chase and Foreman, exited the car, Chase smiling politely at the children, Foreman completely ignoring them and following House, taking out a small knife from his pocket to pry the door open. Chase cautiously made his way up the icy walk and climbed the steps to the door, where House was watching Foreman already getting the door open. The children across the street had completely stopped moving and stood getting wet in the snow with their mouths hanging open, watching the trio at the door.

"Should we really be doing this in front of them?" Chase muttered, keeping his eyes on the boys.

"Of course we should, how else are they going to develop all of their racial stereotypes, from their parents?" Chase shook his head at House's remark, growing more and more nervous about the witnesses that he was sure would run right into their parents and tell them about the strange men they saw breaking into the strange house. There was a click and the door swung open with a long creak.

The house was completely silent and dark. There was the sound of the ticking of a grandfather clock adding to the bleakness of the atmosphere. The three stepped into the abyss of the house, shutting the door and the light out at the same time.

"Looks like something out of a Stephen King novel." Foreman muttered as they stood in the threshold taking in all that sat in front of them.

"Everything floats in here, Eric." House stated, limping into the living room and making a horrific face at the giant painting of Christ on the Cross. "Look at this kids, its my favorite channel, all martyrs all the time, no commercials."

"Hello?" Foreman called, looking around, trying to ignore the creepy porcelain kittens and children that glared menacingly at him from the never ending stream of knick knack shelves.

"Addison?" Chase joined in, moving towards the bottom of the stairs. The stairs were dark, ending at the top in a hallway that appeared to go on forever. "Hello?" Chase called again. He couldn't move, the feeling was back. The hairs on his neck stood at attention and he could hear his heart in his head.

"Here, let me go first, the day I signed on to work for Cuddy he took my soul anyway." House shoved his way past Chase, growing irritated. There were a lot of steps and by the time he finally made it to the top, his leg ached. Foreman followed behind him wondering for a few moments what Chases problem was. The hallway wasn't quite as long as it looked from the stairs, but equally as creepy. The air seemed hang, stagnant and dusty.

"What is that?" House's eyes had narrowed at something at the end of the hallway and he began to move towards it. Foreman and Chase couldn't see what was captivating his attention and curiously followed behind. It felt like they had been walking forever by the time House stopped. They were standing in front of a door, the door that closed off the hallway.

"What is that?" Foreman second as he noticed what House was staring at. Chase stood on his tip toes and looked over their shoulders. His expression changed from curious to complete flabbergast.

"Who puts a pet door on an inside door?" House asked them as he glared at the small rubber door hanging from the bottom of wood. The door was small and rectangular with a double hinge so that it could swing both ways. There was a gust of wind and the door swayed in and out, it was then that Chase noticed a small bit of snow had been taken through it and lay at their feet. House jiggled the handle of the door with his hand, it didn't move. To Foreman's and Chase's surprise, he held out his cane for someone to take and painfully crouched down in front of the rubber door.

"House, maybe we should…" Foreman began, but before he could finish, House had lifted the door in with his hand and was peering into the room. His eyes narrowed as another snow carrying gust hit them. And then suddenly, they got wide and his mouth opened slightly.

"What it is?" Chase asked, "what's in there?" House reached out for his cane quickly, which Foreman handed him and stood stiffly.

"We need to get this door open now." He stated hurriedly and watched Foreman begin to fumble for the small knife again. "Get it open now." House repeated.

"I'm trying." Foreman shot back as he lifted and lowered the knife over and over, trying to get the lock open.

"What's in there House?" But there was no answer, House's eyes were locked on Foreman's hands as they struggled to pry to lock open. The click was heard again and the moment it sounded, House shoved the door open with his shoulder. The three doctors were hit with a pounding blast of wind, the moment the door flew open. But once the wind died down, House rushed across the room into a dark corner and Foreman and Chase stood staring in awe at the scene in front of them.

The room's window was wide open, snow and wind swirling in and out of it. The room was small, with a musty looking bed with few blankets on it shoved against the wall to the right of them. At their feet were half a dozen metal bowls, each of which had different stages of what looked like food in them. But in the dark corner, the corner where House was now crouched, was the body of a twenty something year old girl, shaking uncontrollably and wearing nothing but dirty pajamas. Addison Hopwood was close to death, her ribs could be seen through the shirt of pajamas and her face was pale and sallow. Her hair was cut and cropped as if done with a knife and not scissors. She was in a ball, her arms scrunched up against her chest and her knees pulled up to her arms and as Chase watched House take off his jacket and place it over the girl, it became suddenly clear, the devil was here.


	7. Pandora's Box is Opened

Cameron sat inside the room reading a magazine. The pictures of smiling runners and health nut women did nothing to distract her. Beverly was awake, staring out the window of her room, she hadn't spoken, she hadn't moved in an hour, not since Cameron had entered. The silence of the room and watching the woman's reflection in the glass was beginning to grate on Cameron and she tried desperately to shake it from her mind and nerves. She's just another patient, another sick patient. We've had ones come through here with different life views than I have, Cameron thought to herself. She looked once more at the magazine, trying her hardest to finish the paragraph she had started a half hour ago on hormone levels in dairy products. But as she reread the same sentence for the third time, she had the distinct feeling that there were eyes on her. She tried casually to look up. Beverly was watching her in the reflection of the glass, when she found Cameron had caught on, she smiled slightly, but didn't move.

"Where is that other doctor?" She rasped, still eyeing Cameron through the reflection.

"Doctor Chase?" Cameron coughed slightly, trying to make her voice sound pleasant, instead of uneasy, which it was.

"The one with the blond hair."

"He's doing some blood work." Cameron lied and as she said it, she began to feel like this woman could see right through her, as if she was a human polygraph and she wondered what would happen if it were true.

"What about the other doctor? The one who abused me? Where is he?" Beverly continued on, not taking her dilated eyes away from Cameron's face in the reflection.

"You were accosting a nurse." Cameron swallowed hard.

"I was the one being accosted Doctor. I'm the one being held here against my will and I'm the one that has et power to sue this hospital, so I would like my questions answered and I would like them answered honestly." The woman spat out the words, loosing breath with each forced syllable.

"They're all working on your case. They're all trying to help you."

"If they were trying to help me they would be in and out of this room, drawing blood, running tests, doing all sorts of ridiculous garbage, instead of leaving me here, alone, strapped to this bed like a mental patient." Beverly shifted in the bed slightly, but still continued to glare at Cameron. "Where are they doctor?" She was burrowing into Cameron, making her feel like there were hands around her throat, making her reposition herself in her chair. The woman's eyes looked inhuman in the glass with the snow falling against the now dark sky.

"They're trying to help you… and your daughter." Suddenly Beverly threw herself to the other side of the bed, making the restraints on her wrists strain and crackle. Her face was pale and her eyebrows were arched at jagged angles.

"What have you done?" She whispered. "Where are they?" Cameron's heart began to race as she looked into Beverly's face, the face that was wild and sickly at the same time. How could they have left her alone with this woman? She was restrained, but even so it felt like her hands were clasping at Cameron's throat. She watched Beverly's face become paler and paler, watched as beads of sweat began to form and fall down her forehead and cheeks. She watched as Beverly's arms began to constrict, as if trying to snap the restraints free from the bed. The veins in her neck and forehead began to bulge and become blue, yet she never broke her piercing eye contact with Cameron.

Just then there was the sound of the doors to the wing opening violently and the metallic squeak of gurney wheels being pushed quickly down the empty hallway, Suddenly there was the sound of feet on floor and talking and the wing began to fill with life and break up the immenseness silence. Beverly broke her wild stare and looked out through the glass of her room. Her eyes went from huge and wild to hate filled slits.

"What have you done?" She screamed and pulled forcefully at the restraints on her wrists. making the padding dig into her skin. "What have you done?" She screamed again, watching out the glass as the gurney wheeled by and Cameron saw, for the first time, the face of Addison Hopwood, sallow, pale and lifeless. There were a mountain of blankets covering every inch of her body and an IV drip running down into her left arm. Foreman held the air mask over her face and pumped the bag forcefully as he and Chase pushed the gurney down the hall, House limping behind them, shoulders caked with snow.

"You have brought damn nation to the world! You have set evil free!" Beverly was drenched in sweat, throwing her body against the mattress of her hospital bed, trying every attempt to yank the nylon restraints free. Cameron rushed to the bed, sedative in hand and plunged the needle into the IV, pushing the plunger down and waiting for it to begin to show signs of working.

"They have brought this on themselves, Lord, there is nothing else for me to do." Beverly's words became slurred and she sunk down into her bed. Cameron watched as her eyes crossed slightly and then finally closed. With a sigh of instant relief, Cameron gathered herself and quickly stepped out of the room, following the path the gurney had made. She was surprised to see Cuddy and Wilson each making their way down the hallway, no doubt the cries from Beverly's room had disturbed everyone who had been trying to work. Patients who had been waiting to get in for the clinic where standing in the waiting room pushing each other out of the way, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

"Is she okay?" Cuddy asked Cameron as she met up with her in the hallway and shot a glimpse into Beverly's room.

"She's sedated." Cameron breathed and started to advance into a quick jog, not caring about how professional she appeared at that moment. There were voices coming out of the room three doors down from were they walking and both Wilson and Cuddy soon followed Cameron's lead and began to pick up the pace as they got closer.

Soon all three were stopped in the doorway of the hospital room and staring at the scene in front of them. Chase was tubing Addison, tilting her head back and using a flashlight to thread the breathing tube down her throat. Foreman was grabbing more bags of warm saline and hooking up monitors to her finger and chest. House stood in the corner watching everything occur as if it was something he had seen every day.

"Who's this?" Cuddy asked after she finally found her voice.

"This is the devil, Doctor Cuddy." House smiled at her faintly and then turned his attention back to the work going on around him.

"What?" Wilson stammered, his eyes filled with confusion.

"I know, I was doubtful myself. But then when you think about it, it makes sense. I mean why take the form of a man? Are you really going to get more souls to join you with a body that sweats more, produces more body hair and looks remarkably less attractive when naked? If it were me I would have chosen Heidi Klum instead of this kid, but hey, to each their own, right?" House spun his cane on the floor, completely unfazed by the goings on.

"This is Beverly's daughter?" Cameron was aghast.

"Yup."

"Where did you find her?"

"Exactly where her mother said we would, in Hell, which appears to be a home decorated to look like the place where Hummels and Chia Pets go to die and where kids get treated more like Fido than family." House watched as Chase and Foreman finished their work, before turning and limping towards the door, the swarm of doctors following after him, exhausted from all that had happened.

The patients in the waiting room of the clinic were beginning to dissipate from the window, sure that all of the excitement was over. Cuddy leaned against the nurses station, her head in her hand again, looking as though she might be sick.

"She's severely malnourished and was nearly dead from hypothermia when we found her. Her mother was feeding her with dog food dishes being shoved through a pet opening in her bedroom door." Foreman began, not caring if Cuddy was prepared to hear what he was about to say.

"Did she say anything before going unconscious?" Cuddy lifted her head from her hand and looked down the hallway towards Addison's room.

"Nope, nothing, no backwards English, no Latin, I bit disappointing really, for being the devil, the kid's pretty boring." House quipped also staring down the hallway.

Beverly stirred in her hospital bed, distracting everyone from the hallway and looking at her through the glass.

"Well, you should be happy?" House continued to Cuddy watching Beverly roll over and stare bleary eyed at them through the window.

Cuddy turned to face him with tired eyes and slightly smudged make-up, "How would any of this make me happy?"

"Woman can't sue now, we have every reason to detain her on child abuse charges."

"Addison is hardly a child, House. She looks like she's about twenty four."

"Beverly said she's been battling evil for twenty years, if we're right and Addison is in her twenties, she's been in that room since she was about four. There's no statue of limitations on child abuse is there, better late than never, right?" House stated as he limped into Beverly's room, closing the door behind him.

Beverly's head swiveled towards him as he crossed in front of her bed.

"What do you want?" She slurred, her pupils dilated again and her lips cracked an dry.

"Met your daughter today."

"I don't have a daughter."

"That's funny, 'cause the kid I saw had your eyes. Her tail and cloven feet on the other hand, well, that she must have gotten from...you too right?" House sat down in the chair by the window, staring at Beverly over the handle of his cane.

"The devil doesn't come in the forms that humans have created. Those are man made images, Doctor, fantasies. His true form is much more terrifying, he comes in the form of something innocent, something simple."

"A child." House filed in. Beverly leaned back in bed with a satisfied look on her face. "So Addison or the artist formally known as Lucifer, was kept in that room for how long?"

"I was unsure about whether or not the devil had chosen my bastard for its form, until one day I got definite proof."

"Wait, wait, let me guess, she spit up pea soup and started stabbing her hoo hoo with a crucifix?"

"I was walking with her into the church one Sunday, we were just about to step into the building when Addison's stopped and began to shake. She wouldn't go into the church, a four year old child refusing the word of the Lord. that's when I realized, she was no longer my child. I put her in that room, locked the door, never spoke to her, kept her alive, but only just. God needed to know where the devil was so he could keep him in view, but I knew that the devil can play strong tricks on the mind. He would try to make me believe that he was just an innocent child, try to make me mother him, love him and finally unleash him into the world. Addison died the moment she was born Doctor House and you have opened Pandora's box by bringing that thing into the world."


	8. First Contact

The clinic was full to the brim with people, all suffering from things that looked highly contagious and disgusting. Cuddy nearly sprinted about the floor trying to find whatever help she could. Cameron, Chase and Foreman were already shuffled into rooms wading through the mucus and cold sweats. But it wasn't them Cuddy was worried about, she hadn't seen House's cane grace the tile of the clinic in hours. She was fuming and was hoping that her face was getting hot due to that rather than a sudden fever she had contracted from the five year old boy who sneezed on her. She stomped her way down to his office, her heels making sharp pointed clicking sounds on the floor. It was the sound that struck fear into the hearts of many, except one. She wheeled on his office and was about to start her rampage when she noticed that the room was empty, the sunlight shining cheerily through the window. She stayed silent in the middle of the hallway, like a young girl trying to find her friends during a game. Then she heard it, coming from four doors down, Addison's room.

"Oh Rick, I thought you had left me for good. Ever since that bitch, Monica entered our lives there has been such a wedge placed between us." Her eyebrow rose in anger and the sharp clicking began again towards the talking.

"But, Salene, she's carrying my child. Surely you must understand why I had to leave with her."

"You left, Rick, before I could tell you, I'm also carrying your child." She stood in the middle of the door frame, hands on her hips watching as House's eyes became wide in shock as he watched the television in the corner.

"No way! Totally didn't see that coming! I thought for sure Salene was his sister! Damn it I owe, Chase fifty bucks." With that House popped a Vicadin and smiled at Cuddy.

"I can't believe this." She began, shaking her head.

"I know, I thought Monica was such a better catch than that slut Salene, but hey to each their own right?" House continued to watch the television, not even paying mind to Cuddy's vein pulsing out of her forehead.

"There is a bottle neck a mile long in the clinic, sick people House, really sick people, that need doctors attention." She was trying to clam herself down as she spoke.

"Wow, that sounds terrible, too bad I'm already busy." His eyes were glued to the television.

"Too busy, watching your damn soap operas?" The vein looked as though it were going to burst at this point.

"Well, contrary to popular belief there are some men that can multi-task and that is exactly what I am doing now. Not only am I losing fifty bucks to Chase, but I am also monitoring my patient." He quipped finally taking his eyes from the screen and looking over to Addison's bed. But his eyes didn't go back to the television, they stayed glued to Addison. Cuddy followed his gaze and too became awe struck with what she saw in front of her. Addison's eyes were open, she was looking at the television questioningly and hazy eyed.

"See? Told you." House stood from his chair and limped over to Addison's bedside, Cuddy following him. She took her pen light from her coat and flicked it on, preparing to look into Addison's eyes.

"Addison, can you look at me?" Addison looked around the room confused and then back up to the television which was captivating her.

"Addison?" There was still no real response. "Can she hear me?" Cuddy proposed. House clapped his hands near Addison's ear, making her flinch.

"It appears she can." House looked to the television and limped over, pressing the power button and making the screen go dark. Suddenly without her distraction, Addison looked to the face next to her with groggy eyes. House motioned for Cuddy to hand him the penlight, which he clicked on and brought up to Addison's eye. The moment it was raised to the point where she could see it, she started shaking and cowaring back into the blankets, beginning to choking on her breathing tube.

"Addison, shhhh, we'll get the tube out, hold on." Cuddy advanced, at this point Addison was shaking harder then ever, trying to struggle out of the bed. Cuddy grabbed a restraint from the bed and wrapped it around her wrist.

"House do you mind helping me here?" She breathed as she struggled to keep the girl calm. But House simply stood watching her, trapped in almost a hypnotic state of thought. Cuddy sighed and reached across for the other restraint securing it around her other wrist.

"Shhhhh, you're okay, you're okay." She gripped the end of the tube and pulled. Addison felt the long tube move up her throat harshly and slid out her mouth. She started coughing violently, continuing to shake and then hiccup making her body convulse. Her eyes flew from the ceiling to the faces around her.

Just then there were three faces in the doorway, Cameron, Foreman and Chase entered the room, all in immediate awe at the fact that Addison was finally awake.

"She's awake!" Cameron breathed, smiling, but the smile quickly faded as she closely observed the scene in front of her.

"Shouldn't you three be in the clinic?" Cuddy ran a hand over her face, winded from the struggle with the breathing tube. House hadn't taken his eyes from the bed since seeing Addison awake.

"We need some help with this guy, he's yelling in the waiting room, threatening to sue the hospital for the long wait." Foreman crossed his arms over his chest, magnifying his feelings that he believed the man was a moron. House watched Addison take in these new people and noticed that her hiccuping got more violent and her shaking more rapid.

"Sounds like the clinic's in need of you Litigation Woman, why don't you, Robin, Batgirl and...Foreman, sorry I don't remember any black sidekicks, go take down the evil man in the waiting room." House finally took his eyes from Addison and stared Cuddy hard in the face.

"I can get someone else to deal with him." Cuddy looked down at Addison, feeling a pang of guilt in the girl's condition.

"God, you really can't take a hint can you? You need to leave...now...all of you." Cuddy was aghast at House's forwardness.

"She's having a panic attack. Now we could give her a sedative, but that wouldn't help us find out what kind of damage her mother's done to her if she's drooling on herself. No, I perfer to try the holistic non-invasive method of curing her panic attack by having you four leave." Cuddy looked back down at Addison, who was staring down at the floor continuing to shake and hiccup. She knew House was right, the girl had lived in complete isolation and now was being forced to deal with five new people at once, in a new place. She motioned for the three others in the room to start walking towards the door, she followed, glancing back at House and the girl briefly before disappearing down the hallway.

House limped to the door and shut it, waiting for a moment before limping back to his seat next to the bed and picking up the remote for the television set, flicking it on. The screen lit up and Rick and Salena were now in a dress shop looking at wedding dresses.

Addison continued to shake and hiccup, staring at the floor. House wanted to appear as though he was watching the television, but was closely observing her out of the corner of her eyes. Slowly, Addison's eyes began to lift from the floor and up to the television. Her hiccuping slowed and her shaking became minimal. After a while longer, she was quiet and simply laying in bed with her face on the pillow watching the credits of the show go scrolling across the scene and an add for Frosted Flakes come on.

House glanced at Addison once more to make sure she was calm before standing and limping over to the bed. It seemed as though he wasn't even there as Addison was mesmerized by Tony the Tiger. He took her wrist and checked her pulse. It was returning to normal. The commercial ended and Addison looked up at House and then slowly down to his pocket, where the penlight was sticking out. House noticed and reached in to get it out, she shrunk back slightly and it was then that House noticed a tell tale sign of severe abuse, like a dog that's been hit to many times cowers when there is quick movement. He moved slowly and placed the penlight on the bed by Addison's hand and undid the restraint on that side. She was cautious looking from the penlight to the floor and back again. House moved to the other side of the bed and went about changing her IV bag, once again pretending not to be watching. Carefully, her fingers crept down the blanket and touched the light, bringing it up closer, she turned the light slowly on the bed, examining every side, and then saw the switch. She felt it for a moment and then, to House's surprise switched it on. She leapt back slightly when the thin beam of light hit the wall on the other side of the room. She let go of the flashlight sending it rattling to the floor. It was then that House realized the full extent of this girl's neglect. She didn't now language, she didn't know how to interact with anyone, she was fearful of anyone and everything, yet down deep inside was a curiosity and interest in the unknown. House had discovered his ultimate mystery and as he finished changing the IV bag he grew excited about the possibilities and theories that this girl could prove or disprove. Addison watched the flashlight spin on the floor and saw the light hit the floor and the wall in a flowing spiral. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.


	9. Questions

"But when I threw up and when it came up it was black! Black! I have some here in this coffee cup." The fifty year old man shoved the Miami Dolphin's mug in House's face making the liquid inside slosh onto the floor. "Oops, sorry."

House slid back in his chair to avoid the vomit and sighed. How had this happened? He had a clear reason for getting out of clinic duty, yet here he was listening to this man who seemed to have the brain the size of a walnut. He paused for a minute staring up at the ceiling, begging for a lightening bolt from God to strike him dead or at least give him a reason to get the hell out of this room.

"Mr. Bluford..."

"Blubanks." The man corrected holding the mug of his own puke casually in the air as if holding a mug of tea.

"Oh good, I want to make sure I get your name right when I nominate you for the Darwin awards."

"What?"

"What did you have to eat before you got sick?" House breathed looking up at the ceiling and playing with his cane.

"I don't know two big macs, super size fries and juice, you know trying to lay off the soda."

"Good idea, that stuff's just empty calories right?" House continued to spin his cane trying desperately not to use it on the man's knee.

"Exactly." The man nodded, as if he felt that now he and this doctor were establishing some sort of relationship.

"What kind of juice was it? Grape I'm guessing."

"Yeah! That's right!"

House stepped out of the room after discharging the man and forcing him to throw out his Dolphin's mug before exiting the room.

"How long do I have to continue to let my brain cells die, this hospital's biggest asset is quickly becoming less and less valuable by the minute." House sighed slamming the man's file onto the nurse's station and leaning on the desk, staring angrily at Cuddy, who simply smiled at his whining. "Meanwhile it appears as if the hospital's second biggest asset isn't lessening at all." He quipped, leaning back on the nurses station and glaring at Cuddy's backside.

"God, do you ever listen to yourself?" Cuddy shot back with a slight grin as she signed more forms.

"All the time, it's other people not listening to me that's the issue and thanks for finally coming to the realization that you consider me God." Cuddy laughed at this statement, shaking her head. House sighed, realizing that he was getting no where and watched as the hospital's psychologist Dr. Stone clicked past the desk with a clipboard in hand.

"Is she going into Addison's room?" House asked not taking his eyes from the woman.

"Yes." Cuddy finally looked up from the forms and watched to woman as well for a moment.

House watched Stone continue on her course and Cuddy noticed he began to move his cane more nervously on the floor. "I want to go." He stated after a while.

"Do you see how many people are in that waiting room?" Cuddy was back to her forms again.

"I see three head colds, two bruised tailbones, five hangovers and one...you can not pay me enough to get near that guy, all of which can't be helped by us. You don't need me any more." He stood next to her like a young boy with a baseball mitt waiting for his mom to say it was okay for him to play catch with his friends. Cuddy waited for a moment before looking down at her watch.

"Oh fine, I can only keep you for ten more minutes anyway. Go." The moment the word left her mouth, House was limping off after Stone like a bloodhound on the scent of a rabbit.

"Be home before dinner!" Cuddy yelled after him.

Stone was sitting in front of Addison's bed taking things out of a basket and placing them on the table in front of her when House got to the room. Addison was looking at the woman from her pillow skeptically and House was beginning to notice that her arm was shaking in the restraint on the side of the bed. He guessed any minute he would start to hear the faint sounds of hiccups.

"Good morning Addison," Stone began sweetly,"My name is Doctor Stone. How are you today?" There was no response from the bed as House knew there would be. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, okay? And you try to answer them the best you can, can you do that for me?" Stone continued on with a sweet tone. She picked up a picture with three colored shapes on it and held in up for Addison to see. House heard the hiccups starting from his place in the doorway.

"Can you point to the triangle for me Addison? Huh?" There was fear in Addison's face again as she looked at Stone and the hiccups began to get more intense. "Let's try a different one, okay? Can you point to the shape that's yellow? It's okay." Addison's eyes went back to the floor and she pulled her legs up close to her chest as the shaking in her arm grew worse.

"It's okay, Addison, shhhhh, its alright." Stone got up from the chair she was seated on and went to the drawer where the sedatives were. House immediately decided to make his presence known at this point.

"Good morning Doctor Stone." He quipped in a mock sweet tone. "How are we today?" He limped over to the remote control for the television again and hit the power button. Sponge Bob Square Pants leapt onto the screen.

"Doctor House, this is a private consul, please turn that off and leave." Stone sifted through the drawer until she located the Lorazipan and strode toward the bedside with the needle up. Addison saw Stone advancing on her and tried to pull her arms in, but the restraints kept her from doing so.

"This is my patient and I don't want her sedated." Stone stopped mid-stride with the needle still aimed and glared at House.

"This girl is in the midst of a full blown panic attack."

"I'm aware of that, which should be no surprise to you seeing as though this is my patient. So if you'll put that back in the drawer and pack up your "goodies"..." House was nearly three inches from Stones face at this point.

"Excuse me? Now you listen to me..." Stone was just about to light into the unshaven, rude man in front of her when the familiar sound of Cuddy's heels could be heard entering the room. She stood in the room for a few minutes, saw Addison's condition, the full needle in Stone's hand and the twitching of House's cane and immediately knew what was going on.

"House I told you you could observe, not interfere with this consul." She breathed, tired of having to go through this again for the millionth time.

"This is a very easy solution, and it ends with the phrase, "She's my patient and I don't want her sedated."

"You are perpetuating this attack by not sedating her and it's making her suffer."

"The only reason she's suffering is because you're here, forcing these stupid questions on her." His voice was raised now and the three inch distance between them was growing even smaller.

"Doctor House, that's enough." Cuddy cut in and all was silent except for the sound of Sponge Bob laughing and Addison's hiccups which seemed to have gotten worse since the shouting started and for the first time, House noticed a small tear falling down her cheek.

"These tests that Doctor Stone is trying to conduct are needed to find out Addison's mental state Dr. House. They are extremely important. But as Doctor House has said Doctor Stone, Addison is Doctor House's patient and if he doesn't want her sedated, we have to go with his ruling on the issue." Doctor Stone continued to glare into House's eyes, yet after a few moments turned and returned the needle back into the drawer.

"He's the one that really needs the sedative." She muttered, "I'll pick up my things later." Stone clicked out of the room red faced and sweating.

"I've got all the sedatives I need baby." House sputtered back, popping a Vicadin. Cuddy shook her head and walked out of the room, massaging her shoulder with her right hand. House watched her leave and for the second time that day he was alone in the room with Addison who was hiccuping wildly and staring at the floor, not even trying to look at the television. House limped over to the chair by the side of the bed and sat down facing her.

"This is a pretty, sucky day huh, kid?" Addison continued to hiccup. "Although I'm sure being alone with your mother for twenty years would equal quite a few sucky days." Not knowing what to do next, House looked at the table next to him where Stone had left her things and saw a small toy top with a marker on the bottom. He pulled the table closer and cleared off a small space for the top to travel and grabbed a piece of paper from Addison's file.

"This thing's pretty cool." He stated trying to act like he wasn't paying attention to her. He spun the top on the piece of paper, making it doodle little spirals of blue along the paper. The minutes ticked by and soon the paper was filled with blue spirals and slowly Addison's eyes lifted once again from the floor and onto the paper. Her hiccups began to subside and she watched intently as House made more and more spirals on the paper with the top. Suddenly the restraints near House's side crackled as Addison's arm moved, she was trying to touch the top on the table and then thought better of it. House undid the restraint for the second time that day and let Addison watch some more as he spun the top around some more on the paper. Then without warning, Addison lifted her hand and then put it down. Her face was filled with curiosity and fear.

"It's okay." House whispered, more for himself then for her. She looked into House's eyes and then back to the toy. She lifted her hand slowly again and gently touched the tip of the top letting the fingers rest there, not sure what to do next. House noticed and carefully brought his hand up to hers. She shied for a moment and then let House move her fingers around the stick of the top, showing her how to do it. Addison let go of the top, watching the marker on the bottom make its way across the paper. With only a few hiccups left in her system, Addison sat spinning the top over and over again until every page of her file was filled with color on the back. From the window outside, Cuddy watched the goings on and stood shocked. The one person who doesn't connect with anyone, was connecting with this girl.


	10. The Room With a View

Beverly Hopwood lay in a bed in the psych ward staring up at the ceiling, forehead beaded with sweat as intern, Matthew Clarington sat next to her with a clipboard, nervously scribbling down as much as he could of what Beverly was saying...or not saying.

"Where is Addison's father?" He asked, running his hand through his hair with fake confidence. Beverly continued to look at the ceiling with deep focus as if counting all of the dots on it.

"Beverly, can you please answer the question?" The intern adjusted himself in his seat making the only sound in the room the creak of the chair. There was a much longer pause. Beverly's chest rose and fell, causing her to exhale a raspy breathe. The beads of sweat rolled off of her forehead onto the pillow.

"Beverly? Are you alright?" Clarington rose from his chair and leaned in to look closer. He placed his hand on the bed and removed his pen light from his pocket. Suddenly her hand shot from the bed and grasped his wrist, digging her nails into his skin making him wince. Her eyes were on fire now, blazing with pupils fully dilated. The intern jerked his arm, trying his hardest to pull free, her nails simply digging in deeper. Her eyes lit into him coldly as she began to spit out at him,

"I was sent to this earth in a blaze of fire and storm on the night of March 16th 1955 as an arch angel from God. I was sent to rid mankind of the evil force that has winnowed away so many of his spirit children to the depths of Hell. If I die before I have fulfilled my purpose mankind will be doomed to the renting of clothes and gnashing of teeth such as were seen in Sodom and Gomorra. If you do not release me, you will be held accountable in the here after." The intern had stopped pulling. He was staring into Beverly's eyes, transfixed. There were moments of odd silence in the room as Beverly continued to blaze into the intern's eyes like a snake hypnotizing its prey, suddenly the door burst open and two nurses rushed in, immediately yanking Beverly from the rigid man and tightening her restraints. Beverly sunk back down into her saturated pillow and a small smile crept across her face. Clarington stood in the doorway watching the nurses finish their work, although he knew the woman was severely disturbed, he couldn't shake the fire in the woman's eyes and the bone chilling words that had been spat from her mouth.

Addison Hopwood had been at the hospital for a week now and was slowly beginning to get used to the staff and atmosphere around her. Although continually weary of anyone around her, the staff began to see her relax more around the people who would see her the most. Dr. Stone was becoming a permanent fixture in the room, as was Cuddy who knew the first place to look when House was missing from clinic duty. She would open the door to the room and find both he and Addison glued to the television set.

She rounded the corner for the third time that week and entered Addison's room. House sat in the chair next to her bed, drinking a soda watching the television intently, every once and a while reaching into a large bag of chips and stuffing one into his mouth. Addison's eyes were also focused on the TV, watching what looked like an episode of COPS. But the moment Cuddy entered the room, she grew distracted and turned to see her, a small smile spread across her face. Cuddy smiled back, crossed the room and switched the television set off, making the crack dealer getting tazed fade and disappear.

"You were due in clinic twenty minutes ago." She stood firm in front of House, arms folded across her chest.

"The girl needs to be taught a valuable lesson Cuddy." House tossed the now empty soda cup in the trash and stood gripping his cane.

"And that would be?"

"Never hide crack up your anus, because most likely the cop that finds it's not going to look like Jodie Foster." House limped his way over to Addison's bedside, Addison's eyes following him the entire time with wonderment. Cuddy held the bridge of her nose in her fingers and shook her head.

"I was also thinking," House undid one of Addison's restraints, "that Addy's going to start axing her way through bathroom doors if we don't let her out of here for a couple hours."

"Is Stone okay with this?" Cuddy moved next the bed watching as Addison looked questioningly up to her face and back down at the other restraint House was undoing.

"Stone's all work and no play, which makes Addy a dull girl. Besides it's not her signature on Addison's chart, it's mine." Addison continued to watch as House pulled the side rail down on the bed and stayed perfectly still.

"House, I..." Cuddy began.

"Don't worry Doctor Cuddy, she's had all her shots. But if she bites someone or tries to drink anti-freeze, I'll bring her to the vet and have her fitted for a muzzle." House stood next to Cuddy, looked at Addison and pulled his car keys out of his pocket, jingling them in the air. "Wanna' go for a ride girl? Huh? Do yah?" Addison's eyebrows farrowed as she tried to make sense of what was going on. Cuddy sighed exasperated and slapped House's hand down.

"House, stop it." She bit, yanking the keys from him and stuffing them in her labcoat.

"I don't see how that's any different then the way you and Stone are treating her, like some caged circus freak who you're trying to teach a new trick. You're no different then her mother. Having a white coat and a clipboard doesn't make it anymore justified, in fact it makes it even more appalling." House looked sternly at Cuddy, defying her to make an argument. When she didn't he turned back to Addison who hadn't moved, but was sitting up looking out the window next to her bed. House clapped his hands, instantly getting her attention.

"Come on Addy, let's go annoy some people." Addison stayed where she was for a moment, not understanding. But to House's surprise it was Cuddy who walked up to the bed and took hold of Addy's IV pole and then her hand.

"It's okay, Addy." Addy looked up at the woman and then back at House and slowly moved to the end of the bed and stood up for the first time since entering the hospital. Cuddy began to walk forward slowly wondering if Addison would follow. "It's okay." She said gently when she noticed the girl's hesitation. She held out her hand and to her surprise after a while Addison took it and they began to walk towards the door, House took the IV pole and limped next to Addison. Cuddy opened the door and walked through it slowly, at the door frame Addison hesitated, looking out into the hallway and then up at Cuddy, Cuddy gave her a reassuring smile and Addison crossed over the threshold.

Once the door was opened, Addison's ears were filled with all kinds of new sounds. Suddenly there was the sound of gurneys and nurses, of patients and family members and she found it hard to focus on one thing at a time. Her eyes moved from object to object, trying to take in as much as she could, trying to assess any dangers. Cuddy started to walk slowly towards the nurses station at the end of the hallway, feeling Addison's fingers grip tighter around hers and the girl inch closer to her side. For a moment, she felt happy that this girl, who didn't trust a soul a week ago was beginning to trust her, if only slightly. House continued to pull the IV pole next to Addison watching as the staff and others began to look up and stare in awe as the "Wild Child" emerged from her room.

"And you were worried about her feeling like a circus freak." Cuddy whispered as she eyed the staff and felt a pang of guilt.

"My God Dr. Cuddy, no wonder you always have that stick up your ass about this place. Look at all these people not doing their work." House called out loudly as he began to hear the faintest hiccup coming from Addison's direction. Embarrassed they had been caught gawking, most of the nursing staff and doctors turned back to their paper work and patients and at least pretended to be attending to them, yet House continued to catch them trying to sneak a peak every so often. Addison was almost hugged completely next to Cuddy's arm, hiccuping softly and keeping her eyes every where.

"Maybe this was too soon." Cuddy breathed as they continued down towards the nurses station.

"No, she'll be okay, keep going." Just then Wilson came out of his office at the end of the hallway near the nurses station and followed everyones glare up the hallway to Addison coming closer. He was shocked to finally see the girl leave her room and smiled when he saw her. That was when House noticed that Addison had locked onto Wilson and was slightly returning his smile, although she was still hiccuping, it seemed as though she was more willing to go down the hallway.

"Wilson stay where you are." He called down. Wilson stood almost perfectly still, continuing to smile at Addison. They were about six feet from him now.

"Well, look who's out and about." He started not taking his eyes from the girl. "Does Stone know about this?"

"Sure" House returned quickly.

"What did I even ask?" Wilson sighed and looked down the hallway to his right. There was a small alcove at the end that was glassed where patients family could sit and wait. "Want to sit down Addy?" Cuddy smirked that Wilson had also started to use the pet name and the three of them began to slowly follow Wilson towards the waiting room where only two people sat, a man who reading the morning newspaper and a woman in a large hat who had fallen asleep with her head down.

They reached the waiting room and Cuddy and Wilson took seats, Addison looked at the windows longingly, making Cuddy release her hand. House took Addy's freehand and lifted it to the pole.

"Don't let go of this, okay?" He pushed hard on the closed hand to indicate this. She gripped the pole and wheeled it over to the window slowly. Her eyes squinted against the piercing light glinting off the snow outside as she looked down onto the parking lot watching in awe at the cars coming and going. The doctors watched her for a moment, it was amazing to see the world through this girl's eyes, like a child, everything was new and incredible.

"Any word about her mom?" Wilson began.

"They've got her in the psych ward, apparently she attacked an intern." Cuddy sighed leaning back in her chair and continuing to watch Addison look intently out the window.

"Tough case." Wilson could also not take his eyes off the girl.

"I've seen hundreds of kids come through here with broken jaws and legs, even burns from abuse. We can set the jaw, cast the leg, give them antibiotics. Even though these kids will probably never fully recover mentally, we can help them, or at least feel like we did. Addison came in here without any broken bones, no bruises and yet this is the worst case of abuse I've seen and..."Cuddy broke away, "I have no clue how to help her, I don't know if there's a way we can."

They sat for about an hour talking about Addison's case and her mother, about hospital politics and about Stone's idea about how to treat her. It was right when they were just finishing discussing her, in fact, when she appeared in the doorway of the waiting room.

"Doctor House, Addison was due for therapy, as in in her ROOM a ten minutes ago. I did not okay this." Stone held her clip board hard to her chest and pursed her lips.

Doctor Stone it is my feeling that a little time out of the room would do the patient some good." Cuddy leapt in before House could open his mouth.

"I'm sorry Doctor Cuddy, I was unaware that defying my orders was your idea." Stone didn't budge.

"When it comes to this patient Doctor Stone, you will be following my and Doctor House's orders, is that understood?" Cuddy shot back taking a step forward. House smiled, enjoying watching the female pissing match unraveling in front of him. Stone stood rigid and then at once turned on her heel and clicked out of the waiting area.

"Nicely done Doctor Cuddy, wearing our black vinyl panties today I assume?" House stood and limped over to Addison.

"Well, I haven't talked to the hospital heads in a while, I've got the afternoon free." Cuddy ran a hand over her face knowing that this outburst would not come without consequences.

"Come on Addy, let's throw you back to the head shrinking wolf." He moved towards Addison who hadn't moved from her position in front of the window in over forty minutes. He placed his hand on hers, but when he tried to get her to come with him, she gripped the sill of the window hard, her knuckles turning white.

"Hey Addy, come on, it's okay." House tried taking her hand again. She continued to pull away, not wanting to leave the window and the sudden freedom she had felt.

"Oh yeah, I can see how Stone's therapy is really making her adjust." House breathed as Wilson joined in trying to ease Addy away from the window as well.

"Shhhhh, we'll come back Addy, we'll come back." The struggling ripped Addison's IV out of her arm, sending saline and medicine flying everywhere.

"Damn it." House sighed and picked the squirming tube from the floor as Cuddy walked up and slowly put her arms around Addison. She struggled for a few moments, tears coming streaming from her eyes.

"Shhhhh, it's okay. I promise you won't be stuck in that room again, I promise." House and Wilson stood amazed that Addison had let her touch her and how quickly she was beginning to calm down. In a ten minutes she began to walk slowly back down the hallway with Cuddy, occasionally looking back over her shoulder at the window that was disappearing behind her.

The waiting room became empty as the doctors filed out, one with a cane and the other pulling an IV pole. The man with the paper, although stunned from everything that had just happened in front of him returned to his paper. But the woman who had been sleeping, the woman with the big hat, lifted her head, having heard everything that had occurred, smiled and rose. Wendy Baites knew where her friend was now and where the girl was. The final step to Beverly's task would be completed and there would be a place for her soul in heaven for helping Beverly carry it out.


	11. Discovery

"This is a square Addison, can you say that? Square?" Doctor Stone held up the card for the third time during the section, hoping for some sign of recognition or trying. Addison looked at the card absently and then looked out the window.

"Addison, come on, look at me." Addison was focused on the window in her own world and Stone could tell that she was getting no where today. The session had been forty minutes and Addison was obviously focused for the first thirty. Just then there was the sound of a cane coming closer and closer to the door and Stone watched an incredible thing happen. Addison turned away from the window and looked towards the door. Stone could swear she saw a look of sheer excitement in the girl's face and her wrists moved slightly in the restraints almost already imagining them gone from her hands. The door opened and House filled the door frame.

"Afternoon Doctor Stone, you're looking very psychoanalytical today." He quipped as he limped into the room and over to Addison's bed. Stone didn't say a word. She pursed her lips at House again and began packing up her things.

"Any developments?" Stone turned slightly at the sound of sincerity in his voice. She paused a minute before answering.

"Some...she seems to be processing things." Stone said the words forcefully, as if saying them to boost her self-esteem. She stood and gripped her bag with white knuckles, glaring at House once more before clicking her way out of the room. House smiled slightly watching Stone head out the door before turning back to Addison who had a small smile on her face and looked at House with wide hopeful eyes. Like Pavlov's dog, Addison was beginning to understand that every time this man entered the room she would either be allowed to leave the bed or the television would be turned on. For the past four days, Addison was brought back to the glass room at the end of the hall and was allowed to watch the parking lot while House sat playing his videogames and keeping an eye on her. After an hour House would stand and say that it was time to go back. Addison was always hesitant, hoping this time he would let her stay a little longer. But right when she felt as though he would, he would take her hand and pull her away, bringing her back to the room where the woman was always waiting with her constant talking and objects.

House hovered over her now unfastening Addison's restraints, he saw her smile grow slightly as he undid the second and put down the side rail. Addy moved to the end of the bed, getting ready to stand up to leave, but House stood in her way. He crouched down in front of her and took out his pen light. Her eyes were already looking out towards the hallway in excitement.

"Hey Addy, look at me," she still stayed focused on the hallway, "Addison". He said more sternly and moved her eyes to his. He pulled her lower lid down and flashed the pen light in front of her eyes. This was the first day without the IV and House wanted to make sure that it wasn't a premature decision. He looked her in the eye a moment watching her intently. She was such a mystery to him. What was going on in her head? What was she capable of learning? Was it possible that the truth of nature verses nurture could really be hidden inside this girl? He watched her and noticed that there were still large dark circles under her eyes, he wondered for a moment how much sleep she was getting at night. She rubbed her eyes with a balled up fist, obviously ignoring the fatigue in exchange for a chance to get out of the room.

"Okay kid, let's go." House stood and moved back, allowing Addison to stand and follow him carefully out of the room. Once out in the hallway, Addison automatically took a left as if going to the glass room, but she was stopped by House.

"Ah ah ah, this way." He was a few steps to the right of the door leaning on his cane. "It's okay, come on." He began to limp down the hallway away from her. Addison watched House for a second, confused and looked towards the left, towards the glass room, deciding.

"Addison." House's voice was stern again, he continued to limp slowly down the hallway, watching Addison out of the corner of his eye incase she decided to bolt. The hallway was closing in on her as she stood watching the gap between her and House grow larger and larger. She finally turned and ran up to Houses side, the hallway was unknown and so she hugged next to him as he limped towards the conference room, a small smile on his face at the fact that he had won.

Chase, Cameron, and Foreman sat in the conference room looking at the white board which was full of symptoms and discussing probable causes for their newest case.

"I don't think that it's MS." Chase stated as House entered the room, not noticing Addison yet.

"Come on Chase, how many times are those symptoms going to bitch slap you across the face before you learn to duck? Your skill at denial knows no boundaries it goes all the way from that white board to your sexuality. The only thing is this man's life doesn't depend on whether or not you prefer sausages over tacos." Cameron grimaced at the image House had brought up and then suddenly, saw Addison cautiously enter the room.

"Addison." She breathed, shocked to see the girl out of her room and not hooked up to an IV pole. Foreman and Chase turned and were also shocked to see the girl trailing after House.

"She's out of her room." Chase pointed out, completely forgetting about House's bereavement.

"Oh I see, you don't agree with things unless they're blatantly obvious and right in front of you. Cameron why don't you biopsy one of our guy's cells and stick it under a big microscope, maybe then..." House was talking as he walked over to the large window in the back of the room and opened the blinds.

"We did," Cameron stated watching Addison intently, "there was nothing there." The moment that the blinds were opened Addison moved excitedly to the window and sat Indian style on the floor, looking out and watched the scene below them. House watched her for a moment making sure she was settled and then went for the pot of coffee.

"Has she said anything?" Foreman started watching Addison as intently as Cameron was.

"Yes, actually she did, I can't believe I didn't tell you." Everyone turned to look at House excitedly. "She said, why in God's name did they send me to a hospital where no one does their damn job? Come on people, the patient." House banged his cane on the white board making everyone jump slightly.

"He's complaining of back pain now and the nurses say his fever has spiked to 105." Cameron tried to pull herself back into the case, but couldn't help but shoot quick glances at the girl watching the trees outside with so much intensity and joy it almost brought a tear to her eye.

"Chase get him in an ice bath before his brain self bastes itself." House leaned on the table sipping his coffee casually.

"I'll get a nurse to do it." Chase snapped advancing towards the white board and picking up a white board marker.

"Chase, I'm your boss," House stated, over enunciating each word and limping towards him, "Being your boss, if I say you do something you do it." House snatched the marker from him. "There is that obvious enough for you?" Chase rolled his eyes and left the room, whipping himself out the door like an angry four year old.

"What's up with pretty boy?" House asked glancing over at Addison to make sure she was still content.

"Quinn got promoted to head of OBGYN." Foreman sighed, as though he had heard the story a million times.

"Quinn, Quinn," House muttered running the name through his mind, trying to put it with a face, "Quinn, the freckled kid with the overbite?"

"Yup." Cameron smiled satisfactorily and folded her arms.

"Well, there goes that urban myth, apparently looks and money can't get you everything in life. Damn those British kids were right, makes me wonder about other things. Maybe all you DO need is love."

All of a sudden there was a sound from the window, a small excited whine. Everyone turned to see Addison looking at something outside with wide eyes and a smile spread across her face. She made the sound again, it was small, barely audible but there. House set his coffee down on the table and quickly limped over to the window, followed closely by Foreman and Cameron.

Addison's eyes were locked on a dog running around out in the snow with its owner, the dog was small and white and would yip happily before dashing away from the owner eating snow and wagging its tail. Cameron smiled and crouched down next to her,

"Is that a dog Addison?" She watched Addison for a moment and then her smile began to fade quickly. "House she's shaking." House got down to Addison's level and saw what Cameron saw. Addison continued watching the dog even though her whole body began to shake. Foreman took off his labcoat and put it over Addison's shoulders while House put his fingers on her wrist and took her pulse. Addy continued to smile and make sounds while watching the dog, completely oblivious to all that was going on around her, it was as if she had tunnel vision.

"Cameron get the juice out of the fridge." House placed the back of his hand on Addison's forehead. Cameron rushed to the mini fridge and pulled the orange juice out of it pouring it into a cup and handing it to House. The shaking was getting worse by the second and her breathing quicken, but Addison was still focused outside as if she was used to this feeling.

"Addison, drink this." He put her face in his hands and turned it towards him. She tried to pull away to see out the window again, but he held her firm. "Nope, come on, open up." House placed the cup to Addison's lips and held the back of her head, tipping the juice into her mouth. She swallowed it continuing to shake. He emptied the cup into her mouth, handing it to Cameron to fill again, but keeping Addy's face in his hands. Cameron handed the filled cup to House again and tipped some more of it into her mouth. Her shaking was beginning to lessen and her breathing became less labored.

"There we go," House breathed, pouring more juice into Addison mouth, waiting for her to swallow, "there we go. Shhhhh." Foreman watched House, shocked. What was going on here? Was House caring for this girl or simply interested in her? That handling this girl was a complete mystery to everyone, yet came second nature to him. Maybe he saw himself in her, unable to deal with new things around her, frightened of people.

House poured the last of the juice into Addison's mouth and handed Cameron the cup one more time. Addison's shaking was almost gone and she was beginning to breath normally. Cameron handed him the third cup.

"She's a diabetic?" Cameron said watching the girl.

"We say she has diabetes, her mother says she's possessed." House spoke as he tipped more juice into Addison's mouth, making sure she was drinking it. "Beverly said when Addy was four she started shaking on the way to church and of course it has to be the devil inhabiting her body, not the fact that her body can't produce insulin."

"She's had it her whole life." Foreman mentioned pulling his coat closer around her.

"She's been in that room her whole life, eating out of dog food bowls." House's voice suddenly sounded rigid and cold. "She's never been treated, God knows what kind of told it's taken on her body."

Chase rushed through the doors, hands still wet from the ice bath.

"Rogers is in the tub, nurses are going to take him out when his temp. goes down. Did I miss anything?"

"Beverly, Beverly can you hear me?" Wendy Baites sat next to Beverly's bed, holding her purse in her lap and whispering to the nearly catatonic woman laying next to her. "Beverly, I've come to help you. The sisters at the church, they said that I shouldn't see you. I told them I wouldn't. They're so stupid." Wendy breathed, glancing around to make sure they were alone. A nurse at the nursing station watched her through the glass for a moment and then went back to her paperwork.

"I was going to finish it Beverly, but..." Wendy looked at the floor, "but I'm not as strong as you. I wasn't chosen to do anything. I wasn't chosen for this, you were. Then I thought I was chosen, I was chosen to help you in your hour of need." Wendy reached into her purse and pulled out a small knife about the size of seam ripper. She glanced around once more and placed it under Beverly's hand. Beverly's hand slowly closed around the knife and as she stared at the ceiling whispered,

"You are forgiven sister Baites, I will remember to mention your name in prayer before I finish this. You will be among those saved." Beverly closed her eyes and Wendy stood, kissed her on the forehead and left the room with a smile, knowing that she had helped in the saving of mankind.


	12. Jail Brake

"He's not improving, we have in on heparin for the clots and potassium for the deficiency, but he's still complaining of severe leg cramping." Foreman sat in House's office in the comfy chair by the door as House crouched down next to Addison, who was sitting in front of his window on the floor, and took her hand.

"God, why doesn't someone tell this guy to shut up?" As he spoke he stuck Addison's finger to test her blood sugar levels. She didn't flinch. Cameron watched from the door frame, shocked that this girl was so used to people inflicting pain on her that it was almost as if she expected it. Addison smiled again and let out an excited whine as she watched another person enter the yard down below with a dog, this one larger than the other one, older and slower. House watched the dog and Addison for a moment, waiting for the finger stick to beep and thinking about their current case. This man was a train wreck, yet House could tell from the track marks on his arms that not all of his symptoms were a mystery. The hard part would be ruling out the symptoms of detoxing from the ones that were actually causing his leg cramping and clots.

The finger stick beeped, pulling House back into reality. He looked down and upon seeing it slightly low looked around at his team and simply said,

"Lunch break."

"But what about the patient?" Cameron took a step forward, uncrossing her arms.

"He's got a tray in there, fish patty I think," House limped to the trash and threw the finger stick away, "that's an unfortunate choice, seeing as though Marla's on the meat station downstairs. Anyone else notice one of her press ons was on this morning and isn't this afternoon?" Chase made a disgusted face as he thought about the cheeseburger that he was planning on getting and how he would have to settle for a salad again today.

"What should we do with him?" Foreman spoke firmly.

"Oh God, I don't know..." House limped back to Addison, "pump him up with methadone and push him out on the streets...that's the normal protocol around here for "his kind" isn't it?" House looked around the room again, no one moved and it was silent except for an occasional sound of excitement from Addison. House sighed,

"Check his O2 stats and prep him for another MRI for the leg, that should take about forty five minutes...or an hour and a half depending." Cameron was the first to roll her eyes and turn on her heel into the hallway. "Oh, and maybe, if you think to, start him on the methadone...unless I'm wrong and that road map on his arm is just a really cool tattoo." Chase and Foreman sighed in unison and began to follow Cameron out the door.

"Foreman," House called making Foreman turn, "I might need you later, so don't go too far." Foreman stared at House confused for a moment, but then nodded slightly and left the room.

The room was empty again except for Addy and House. Addy sat in front of the window completely lost in the goings on beneath them and House stood watching her, completely lost in wondering what was going on inside her mind.

He finally broke his stare and limped over to his desk, picking up the phone and dialing Wilson's number.

"Yup." Was all he said and then hung up the phone, leaning on his desk, returning to his subject. In a few moments, Wilson was filling up the doorway to the office holding a brown paper bag and wearing a slight smile on his face. House spun around, noticing.

"What?" He asked defensively.

"Nothing, it's just I've never seen you be so paternal before." Wilson continued to smile as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

"God, you really do see only what you want to, don't you? No wonder all of the attractive, available patients some how always get diagnosed with cancer. Don't get too comfortable," House continued as he watched Wilson pull up the extra chair to House's desk as he normally would, "We're taking lunch outside." House limped to the side of his desk, taking out his back pack which was stuffed to the brim.

"Outside? It's only 40 degrees out?" Wilson watched House from the chair quizzically.

"You have a jacket don't you? God, when did you turn into such a woos?" House limped over to the blinds and shut them, causing Addison to look up at him questioningly.

"I can't learn anything with her just sitting here all day, neither can she, it's a win win situation."

"Except for the part where we all get hypothermia." Wilson snapped, standing up from the chair with a huff.

"Fine, we'll go without you, just give me her lunch and we'll go." House leaned on his cane with his hand out expectantly. Wilson glared at House in the eye and then shot a glance to Addy who was still sitting on the floor, hoping for the blinds to magically open. Finally after about two minutes he sighed.

"I'll get my coat." House smiled a winning smile.

"Has she been on the elevator yet?" Wilson asked as the three of them stood in front of it waiting for it to come to the floor.

"Nope, but no time better than the present." Addison stood not even paying attention to what was going on. She was fixed on a nurse and patient arguing down the hall. The patient was trying to light a cigarette and each time the nurse would whip it out of his hand and rip it in half, causing the man to throw his arms up in the air and swear. Just then there was a ding and the elevator doors opened. House stepped inside holding the button that held the doors open.

"Come on Addy, let's get outta' here." He said, getting her attention. She looked into the elevator, amazed that this room had just appeared there. But the room was tiny and cramped, suddenly there was a rush of memories that crowded her mind. Her hand began to shake as Wilson took her hand and began to lead her towards the door. She hiccuped softly and remembered laying on the floor of her room, waiting for a shadow to pass in front of the dog door and for a food plate to be shoved under. Suddenly she could feel the pain of her mother's slap across her face and the heel of her mother's foot in her back. Wilson hesitated looking to House, wondering if this was a good idea. House nodded silently, telling him to continue. Wilson took a deep breath and stepped closer to the elevator, Addison began resisting, holding her weight deep into her feet.

"It's okay Addy, it's okay." She buried her face into Wilson's arm, tightening her grip on his hand. "Shhhhh, it's okay." He placed his other hand on her head and walked carefully into the elevator. She was trembling now and hiccuping hard against his arm.

"God, what did that woman do to her?" Wilson breathed as the doors shut on the elevator. Addison watched the doors close out of the corner of her eye and House watched as her breathing became heavier. He pressed the lobby button, making it light up and was surprised to see it capture Addison's attention for a moment as the elevator began to move. He watched as the jerking of the elevator surprised her at first and then unusually through the hiccuping, Addison began to get captivated by something. House followed her eyes and saw that it was the numbers clicking down on above the door. Finally the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. A sea of light from the huge glassed in area of the lobby filled the elevator. The lobby was filled with people coming and going, yet Addison's eyes were huge with the sight of the glass. She pulled away from Wilson and ran from the elevator.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Wilson chased after her, followed by House. It wasn't long however, before a nurse noticed a young woman running in hospital scrubs followed by two doctors. She stepped in front of Addy and held her.

"Hello Addison, " she said calmly and sweetly, "what are you doing down here?"

"Thank you Brenda." Wilson was out of breath when he caught up with them and immediately took the nurses position of holding Addison close, causing her to whine while looking at the window over his shoulder.

"You're welcome Dr. Wilson." Brenda maintained her sweet smile which quickly faded as House joined them.

"I always knew you'd make a good line backer Brenda, there's a pick up league on Thursday nights, I'm sure they could really use those manly biceps of yours." Brenda shot House a sarcastic smile and walked back to the nurses station.

"Nurses, huh? Always so much fun." House quipped, smiling briefly as he put on his jacket. Wilson rolled his eyes, still holding firmly onto Addison who was still struggling slightly in his arms. "Alright, here we go kid." House unzipped the backpack and removed a Burton jacket, socks and sneakers. Wilson was surprised to see that all of the sizes were correct, House had actually bought these things for her.

They were feet from the door now and Wilson managed to get Addison to sit next to him on the bench. She sat wide eyed at the window, a small smile appearing on her face and occasionally biting her bottom lip with excitement. House handed Wilson the socks and the sneakers as he began putting the jacket over Addy's shoulders, reaching into the sleeves and pulling her arms through. Wilson knelt down and put the socks and sneakers on her, watching and smiling slightly at the excited shaking over her legs. There was the sound of a zipper and House stood fully.

"Come on Addy." Wilson had just barely finished tying her sneaker when she jumped up from the bench and rushed to the door. She couldn't believe it was happening, she watched in awe as House's hand went to the door handle and pushed it open.

A cool wind hit her face making the short hair on her head blow back and her eyes squint against it. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and there was a wave absolute joy that filled her whole body. She carefully stepped outside and the sound of the cars entering and exiting the parking lot filled her ears and the smell of exhaust and winter filled her nose. She smiled and gave out a tiny giggle, she had never felt this way before and House and Wilson could tell.

"Good call House." Wilson was freezing, but as he watched Addison begin to walk carefully on the sidewalk and watch the trees and the cars and everything around it, it made the cold disappear for a moment.

House watched Addison interact with this new environment, it was like watching a toddler that had been let loose in the mall. It almost looked as though Addison's legs were controlling her, not her brain and it made him smile. She ran her hand in the snow, holding it up to her face, watching it disappear in the heat of her hand, then upon seeing the cars in the parking lot walked up to them, touching the outsides, feeling the smoothness of the paint against her hand. She was doing this, when suddenly it caused a car alarm to go off. The loud blaring sound made Addison throw her hands over her ears and back away from it, terrified. She was so scared she walked into the lane with in coming traffic. House through his cane down and half ran, half limped and grabbed her out of the way. The driver of a delivery truck slammed on his breaks and honked his horn. The sound made Addison wince and with her hands on her ears, bury her head into House's chest.

"God! Get a leash for that kid!" The delivery driver yelled out the window.

"Bite me!" House screamed back, making his way across the parking lot with Addison close. "Okay, I think that's enough exploring for right now." Addison watched the truck drive away over House's shoulder. Wilson walked up with House's cane and handed it to him.

House managed to get Addison onto the picnic table as Wilson set the lunch containers from the cafeteria out in front of them, trying to will himself not to shiver. House opened Addison's and set it in front of her, she didn't notice, too preoccupied with watching cars and dogs.

"Addy, come on, time to eat." He banged his hand on the table to get her attention, once he got it, he pointed to the mac and cheese. Addison reached down with her hand and grabbed some with her fingers, stuffing it into her mouth and continuing to watch around her. Wilson watched her, imagining a food bowl being shoved under Addison's door and her being treated like an animal. There had been no one there to treat her like a human being, care for her enough to teach her how to eat like a human being. House watched her feeling something in the pit of his stomach, something he hadn't felt in a long time.

After a while, Wilson and House began to talk to each other, mostly just to stay warm. They talked about the new nursing staff and which ones were attractive, rated the people on the hospital board, who could kick whose ass in a cage match, Cuddy beating everyone without question. At the end of the conversation, House looked over to Addison, who seemed to be finished with her lunch and was still looking all around her. He half smiled at the cheese around her mouth and grabbed a napkin and began cleaning her face. She fussed a little wanting to be left alone to observe what was around her, but he talked to her and after a while allowed him to finish. Wilson sat shocked, not even being able to understand the connection House had with this girl.

It was a bit of a struggle to get Addison to come back inside, but with some coaxing and the tiredness that was filling her body, she eventually made it back into the elevator and into her room again. House and Wilson took of the jacket and sneakers in within moments, she was asleep. They shut the door behind them and walked to the nurses station, where House grabbed a lollipop and the conversation from outside was continued. But right as they were getting to who would you rather be stuck with in an elevator for an hour, there was a voice over the intercom system.

"We have a code red in progress, a code red in progress on psych, all staff please be aware."

"Leave it to psych to loose a patient." Wilson sighed, but as House stood there, he felt the feeling return in the pit of his stomach, and this time, it didn't go away.


	13. The Darkness

It was two o'clock in the morning and Addison lay in bed, eyes open watching the moon outside the window as the clouds pushed by it, making shadows shift on the snow below. She longed to be back outside feeling the breeze on her face. She sat up in bed, it was her first night without the wrist restraints and she loved the freedom that she felt. Just then a night nurse entered the room coming around to the opposite side of the bed.

"What are you still doing up, huh?" She sat on the bed and watched Addison's fascination for a moment and then turned herself to look out the window. The clouds over the moon were completely gone, making the glow almost blinding. "It's pretty isn't it?" She looked back at Addison and stroked her hair back thinking how lucky this girl was to be out of her previous situation. The only sound in the room was the wind rattling the window panes every so often. Just then something cut the silence, a doctor ran by the door yelling in,

"Donna, we need all available staff in 205." It was then that she could hear the sound of things being thrown out into the hallway, the sound of broken glass and a man's voice yelling.

"Get the hell away from me you bastards!" Donna sighed and looked at her shoes for a moment not wanting to go deal with whatever was waiting for her down that hallway. But she eventually pushed herself off the bed and left the room.

Addison watched her leave and then turned back to the window. The snow danced with the shadows of the trees and the few cars that were left in the parking lot outside were slowly beginning to accumulate a thin layer of snow over their windshields and roofs. It was intoxicating, she couldn't take it any more. With a sudden burst, she pushed herself to the end of the bed and climbed out in the gap between the side and foot rails. Her bare feet hit the floor and a surge of joy filled her body. She stood for a moment watching out the window excitedly. With the image of the snow and the moon fueling her she padded to the door and out into the empty hallway. The screaming in the hallway was getting louder and Addison could hear the sound of nurses and doctors trying their best to restrain the patient.

The elevator stood beckoning her at the end of the hallway and as it did Addison's hands began to shake with excitement. She got further and further away from her room and the sound of the struggling patient until the only sound was the sound of her own bare feet slapping against the cold tile. She passed by the team's conference room and House's office, both stood empty and dark, looking almost haunting in the light of the moon. She passed the glass waiting area at the very end of the hallway, glancing quickly at the shafts of moonlight hitting the seats and old magazines that littered the space. The hallway was still and quiet and as Addison stood in front of the elevator, the darkness engulfed her. She waited. She waited for the doors to open as they had before. She liked her lips and then bit the bottom one watching the seams of the doors begging for them to move. Why wasn't it working like it was before? It felt like an eternity. It was then that something caught her eye, something bright. She looked down and saw the lit up buttons in front of her, one with a triangle pointing up and the other down. She remembered seeing House press a button that looked similar inside the "small room". She bit her lip nervously again and looked from button to button, blinking questioningly. Finally she extended an index finger and gingerly pressed the lit button with the arrow pointing down. The doors slid open, causing a wide smile to spread across her face, she breathed excitedly and stepped into the elevator. Biting the nail of her thumb through her smile, she turned and watched the hallway disappear as the doors slid shut in front of her.

The panel of lit up buttons glared in front of her and once again her teeth bit her bottom lip in concentration. Her eyes scanned the rows of numbers and letters, not being able to make any sense of what she was looking at. She looked down at the lettered buttons and remembered House pressing one that afternoon. She extended her index finger again and carefully pressed one, the letter B. The elevator jerked to a start and the smile was back on her face again, remembering that this feeling meant that the doors would open soon and she would be walking out into the brightly lit glassed room. She looked over the door and watched the numbers click down, her thumb nail secured in her teeth and her other hand opening and closing excitedly. Finally the elevator jerked to a stop and the doors slide open.

Addison bolted excitedly from the elevator, not even looking around her. The doors slid shut behind her, taking the light from the inside with it. Suddenly a feeling came over Addison, slowly the smile faded from her face and she lowered her thumb from her mouth. The glass room was nowhere to be found, instead she was surrounded by walls with small doors in them, shiny like the elevator doors. Addison looked around nervously, something didn't feel right. The room was stagnant of sound except for the steady hollow noise of the sink in the middle of the darkness. A single drop would form and fall every five seconds, creating an eerie echoed rhythm. The sink was connected to a long metal grid and as Addison stepped towards it she noticed a gurney in the shadows with a long white shape laying on top of it. She looked at the gurney from the corner of her eye as she did, a small hiccup escaped her body. She bit her bottom lip, hiccuping again and turned back to the elevator door, this time seeing only one bright button lit up with the triangle pointed up. She pressed the button quickly, hiccuping hard and looking around her. Her hiccups hit the walls and echoed with the dripping faucet, making her feel even more alone. The elevator doors didn't budge, she hiccuped again and pressed the button, searching the seams for some hope of movement.

Drip

Drip

Hiccup

Drip

Hiccup

Hiccup

Drip

Drip

Hiccup

Clunk

She jumped. Something had shifted behind her. Something had fallen on the floor. She was hiccuping so hard at this point her body almost looked like it was ceasing. She spun around, her eyes searching every corner and falling finally on the gurney. She breathed in, her mouth suddenly becoming dry. The gurney was empty. A white sheet lay vacant, pulled back on top, the shape underneath gone. She spun back to the elevator doors, pressing the button harder and biting her thumb nail through her hiccups. Clunk! Her palms were sweating as she spun around again towards the open room. A long shadow stretched across the floor towards her now and a tear left her eye when she finally saw the source of the noise.

"The Lord says Ask and Yea Shall Receive."


	14. Alone

Her hair was jutting and whisping out from her face, causing odd shadows to mark across her face, highlighting the fury in her

Her hair was jutting and whisping out from her face, causing odd shadows to mark across her face, highlighting the fury in her eyes.

"It's a miracle." Beverly Hopwood's eyes were blood shot and twitching as she drove a stare into her daughter that would have burned a hole in the metal door of the elevator behind her.

"That's just what this is, a God sent miracle." She took a step towards Addison who was up against the elevator doors as if hoping to fall through them back into the "small room". "I had a vision Addison, a vision while locked in that torture chamber up stairs." Beverly spat out the words at Addy, her hands clenched in knuckle white fists. "God came to me, he came to me like he did that night I found out I was carrying you, he told me that my work was nearly completed. Do you know how many nights I begged for this vision? How many nights I stood at the outside of your room aching for the Lord to allow me to enter and cast you from this Earth as he cast you from the Kingdom of Heaven? Through all of this, for twenty four years, the Lord gave me this burden knowing how strong my faith was in him and tonight, Addison, he has blessed me with the joy of finishing this journey and knowing that there will be a place for me in the High Council of Heaven. For this I thank you Lord." Beverly's eyes shot to the heavens as her hand shot across Addison's face so hard it made her nose bleed.

Addison blinked, looking down at the floor, hardly reacting, this had happened so many times in her life it was as regular to her as a mother snapping at her child when annoyed. She coughed up some blood as her bloody nose began to seep down her throat. Beverly stepped into the shadows, disappearing from view, causing Addison to lift her eyes from the floor searching.

"May the power of the Lord send the soul of this vessel to Hell from wince it came!" Beverly rushed from the darkness, IV pole in her sweaty hands and before Addison knew it, her mother swung the pole, cracking her hard in the ribs, sending pain shooting through every inch of her body. She cried out, falling to the floor in a heap and as her lungs constricted, barely opening again making her breathing shallow and labored. The pain pulsating through her body caused her to retch onto the floor as her eyes whirled around not being able to focus. Beverly glared down at the girl on the cold concrete, a wide grin spreading across her face as she was filled with the endorphins that come from finally getting to do what you've always wanted to.

"May God protect the children of this Earth from the evil that inhabits this human form as I have done under his command." The IV pole flew back into the air over Addison and came down hard on the right side of her head, splitting the skin open and instantly knocking Addison unconscious.

The phone was rang. House lay in bed, pushing his eyes closed tighter, hoping that he had been dreaming. It was silent, he had been dreaming. He rolled over quickly, burrowing his face deeper into his pillow, maybe if he concentrated enough he could be back on the island with Claudia Schiffer. Just as he could hear the surf lapping against the shore, it was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone.

"Damn it." House mumbled into the folds of his pillow and pushed himself from the mattress. He flipped the side lamp on and waited, blinking, trying to focus on the clock glaring at him from the night stand. The red laser numbers angrily bled at him, three thirty. "Damn it" He muttered again as the phone yelled at him from next to the clock. He slammed his hand on the receiver and lifted it to his ear.

"What?" His eyes were closed, he didn't want to fully come to the reality of being awake quite yet.

"House?" Cuddy's voice crackled from the other end of the phone and House could clearly make out the sound of traffic in the background, she was on her cell.

"I'm sorry there's no one here by that name at this hour."

"We have an emergency." Cuddy was relentless.

"By "we" I'm assuming you mean, you and all of the other employees at Princeton Plainsboro that are paid to deal with emergencies at three thirty in the morning."

"Addison's missing." Suddenly House's eyes were open.

When House's car pulled into the parking lot, he noticed tow other familiar cars collecting snow right along side of his, Cuddy's and Wilson's. He stepped out and carefully, yet swiftly limped his way across the dim lot to the front door. Putting his hand on the handle, he quickly noticed that it had been locked and upon looking through the glass saw a hefty looking security guard with his back to him. He banged on the glass with his cane, getting the man's attention causing him to turn and yank open the door with a sigh.

"Sorry to bother you." House shot at him as he limped across the threshold. The guard said nothing, narrowed his eyes at the doctor and simply went back to his stance in front of the door, arms folded across his chest. House loosened the scarf around his neck as he limped into the vacant lobby looking around him for some sign of someone who would know what the hell was going on.

"House!" The yell came from above and upon looking up, House saw Cuddy standing on the balcony looking down at him. She stood in sneakers, yoga pants, and a ragged sweatshirt reading Johns Hopkins across the front. Despite her wardrobe, Cuddy still oozed professionally as she sped walked to the elevator entrance and waited for House to emerge.

The doors slid open and House limped out, eyes focused on the nursing station towards the end of the hall where Wilson was already standing talking to the charge nurse, looking like he had just arrived as well.

"You need to slim down the hospital's budget don't you Doctor Cuddy?" He announced as he got closer to the nursing station. "I would start making cut backs in this department if I were you, seeing as though we could probably get a helper monkey for cheaper. It would probably do better at patient monitoring than these morons." He snapped loudly, making sure that everyone at the station could hear him clearly.

"Doctor House, I don't think you have any right to..." The charge nurse spun from Wilson to House instantly, immediately getting red in the face.

"No maybe you're right, I shouldn't compare you two, it's not fair to the helper monkey." Wilson shook his head and looked at the floor. "I want to know how a nursing staff that is supposed to be one of the best in the state, looses two patients in one day, one of which has no idea how to operate an elevator and another that was supposed to be heavily sedated and strapped to a hospital bed."

The charge nurse was inches from House's face now, twitching with anger, in fact she looked close to decking him right in the jaw. Cuddy sensing the possibility of a concussion issued by a cane or one by a woman's fist, stepped between the two and put her hands up.

"This isn't doing anyone any good. There are two patients missing here, the last thing we should be doing is standing here debating who's at fault." Cuddy breathed out exasperated at the immaturity of her staff, collecting herself and then continuing by turning her back on House and facing the charge nurse. "What security measures have been taken?"

"The stairs are still locked from this afternoon and we have security staff on all floors watching the door ways. The elevators have been shut down since we noticed Addison was missing and we have staff combing the floors." The charge nurse was breathing heavy as she tried to calm herself down.

"Okay, Beverly can't be moving very fast with Addison in tow." Cuddy sighed running her hand over her face and then placing it on the back of her neck, thinking. House stood looking from face to face as everyone stood frozen, lost in thought and unsure of what the next course of action should be.

"Oh God." He sighed, rolling his eyes and turning on his heel, limped down the hallway towards his office. Wilson eyed Cuddy and trailed after, catching up with him after a few quick strides. "What are you doing here?" House asked irritated, as he continued to forcefully work his way down the hall, "she's not your patient."

"What are you doing here?" Wilson returned, "you never get out of bed for your patients. Everybody knows that, I can't believe Cuddy even called you." House was silent as he continued down the darkened hall, limping straight past his office to Wilson's surprise. House progressed until finally stopping and rounded into Addison's room, which stood empty and black. House stepped in, still remaining silent and stood rigid in the middle of the space. Wilson stood behind him, one eyebrow raised pondering what was happening in front of him.

After what seemed like hours to Wilson, House opened his mouth,

"The side rails are up."

"That is hospital procedure." Wilson muttered back, hoping for something more.

"If Beverly came in the room to get Addison, why would she leave the side rails up?" There was another moment of silence and in that silence House's eyes went from the bed to the window. The moon had slipped back behind thin clouds again, yet the snow underneath was still glinting. "Beverly was never in here. Addison left on her own, she was trying to get back outside."

"I'll go tell Cuddy to get more staff out looking on the grounds." Wilson turned and rushed from the room, House following after at a slower pace, thinking as he walked. He made it to the nurses station again, where Cuddy was still standing talking to Wilson and the charge nurse. She caught sight of House and grew interested with the thoughtful look on his face. She turned back to the charge nurse,

"Send as many staff as you can spare outside." The charge nurse nodded and grabbed the walkie talkie on the desk and began issuing the new orders.

"She's not outside." House breathed still looking down the hallway.

"How can you be sure?" Cuddy asked.

"Nurse Ratchet over there said that all of the stairs had been locked and as much as I don't want to believe it, I doubt Tubby downstairs would let a girl in scrubs out the front doors. She's still here."

"But we've checked the entire floor, House, there's no sign of her." Cuddy began. House continued his piercing gaze at the end of the hall and slowly a smile spread across his face.

"What is it?" Wilson was in complete awe.

"She figured out the elevator." Wilson and Cuddy exchanged looks for a moment before turning back to House.

"So where does that leave us?" Cuddy began.

"Well, there are only two floors beneath us," House was limping towards the elevators now, trailed by Cuddy and Wilson.

"Wait, how do you know she went down?" Wilson walked in stride next to House.

"I don't, but Ratchet said that the staff is combing the other floors, the only floors that are carbon copies of each other are the ones above us. If she was there, they would have found her by now. There's only one floor in this place that has all the cool hiding places."

There was a humming sound filling her ears and the taste of blood in her mouth and as she lay on the freezing concrete of the basement, Addison tried opening her eye but it wouldn't budge; it was swollen shut. Her side was searing with pain and she could hardly breathe, the sound leaving her mouth was raspy and wheezing. Her left eye was against the floor and was open about a centimeter, the extent of its strength. But with the centimeter of visibility, she could see the pool of blood near her head spreading. What had happened? The events that led to her getting down here seemed to have happened the day before and she longed to be back upstairs or sitting on the park bench outside. A tear formed in her eye and rolled down her cheek as she thought of how wonderful it had been outside and she tried to remember the way the snow had felt in her hand. As she tried to remember, the humming sound in her ears began to fade and she could hear another sound, it was Beverly and she was praying.

"Dear Lord, you have brought me this far and showed me what it takes to be a good Christian. As I hold this tool of exaltation in my hand, I pray that you will give me the final strength needed to complete my task." Addison watched through the centimeter of visibility in her left eye as her mother grew silent and still, holding the bloody IV pole in her hand. Presently, she stood, turned and stared down at Addison, who closed her eyes and tried to imagine the breeze hitting her face and the smell of the exhaust from the cars. As she heard the sounds of her mother's foot steps on the concrete, she tried to remember the sound the dead leaves in the trees shake and the dog from the window barking excitedly at its owner. The footsteps stopped and she could sense her mother's hovering form leaning over her, felt strands of her mother's hair touch her face and as she lay there, shivering, bleeding and loosing air, she heard her mother's voice whisper,

"And the lambs of Christ shall rejoice when that day arrives, for Lucifer has left this Earthly state, never to return again."

Addison felt a rush of wind across her face and then... there was a ding. The sound of a ding and then a wide beam of light spread across the floor in front of her and she heard a familiar female voice.

"Oh my God!" There were long shadows moving everywhere now on the floor and pounding of feet on concrete. Beverly's voice could be heard over all of the commotion, screaming at the top of her lungs,

"You bastards! You miserable bastards! You'll all burn! All of you!" Addison was shaking violently from cold and fear and then through her centimeter of light she saw something that made her heart leap in her chest, it was the foot of a cane and she knew that the tall man that had shown her such beauty was here. She saw a knee and then felt a hand on her back making small circles and heard a voice.

"Addison, it's me." It was the tall man's voice, "we're going to get you out of here, you just have to hold on."


	15. The Villagers Arrive

"Enough! Enough damn you!" She could hear her mother's heels clicking on the stairs as she lay on the floor. Her stomach was stabbing and the vomit seeping from her mouth had blood flowing through it like paint in water. In a moment the clicking had stopped outside the door and she could see the shadow of her mother against the floor boards. The door flew open and Beverly Hopwood stood filling up the door frame carrying a bucket of water and a sponge. She knelt down next to Addison and roughly hauled her up from the floor by the arm, making her wince with pain and cough blood and vomit with on her mother's blouse. Beverly looked down at the mess forming on her chest, her face growing redder by the second. Holding her strongly in one hand, Beverly belted Addison hard across the face, making her neck snap.

"Disgusting! Disgusting little bitch! Open your mouth!" Beverly gripped the sides of Addison's sweat drenched face and forced her lips open, taking a bottle of Peptobismal out of her pocket and dumped half of it down Addison's throat. Addison gagged on the liquid, choking as it slid down the back of her throat.

"There! Now no more! No more damn you!" Beverly tossed her aside, making her body make a loud smack on the floor and began sponging the vomit from the floor, cursing Addison the entire time. Addy lay on the cold floor, shivering and soaked with sweat. Her eyes opened, her heart was beating inside her head. She could hear her mother spouting in the corner, heard the water hitting the floor boards. It was then that something captivated her, it was walking across the floor towards her, an ant. It was figure eighting itself around the boards, not even noticing all that was going on around it. Addison watched the ant and over the shivering and sweat, Addison began to wonder what it was like to be the ant, so small, so invisible against the brown wood floor. What would it be like the go through life completely invisible like the ant?

"Dirty little slut." There was a loud bang and the ant was dead. Beverly's foot lifted from the floor, holding the carcass of the ant and all hope of ever being invisible.

"Lord, deliver this burden from me, I am too weak of a servant for you!" Addison watched as Beverly wiped her brow with the back of her hand and then look down at her with vengeful piercing eyes. She held the bucket of steaming water in her hand with white knuckles and stared down at her daughter as if she were a contagious disease.

"You're disgusting! You're a disgusting little slut!" Just then Beverly gripped the bottom of the piping hot bucket. Addison's eyes grew huge as she watched the scalding hot water begin to erupt from the edge of the bucket towards her face. "Deliver me Lord, deliver me!"

"Addison! Addison! Doctor Cuddy" Several nurses was were over Addy frantically trying to calm the girl who was shaking and through labored breathing, tears streaming down her face, saturating her pillow. Cuddy rushed into the room, having gone through this at least four times since the basement. The monitor next the bed was going haywire, as Addy's heart rate continued to climb.

"Okay Addy, here we go, shhhhhh, here we go." She reached into her pocket for the syringe she had been keeping there for weeks, just in case. Each time it was used she would put a new one in the pocket. The pulled the cap of the sedative off with her teeth and tapping it, pushing the plunger slightly to get the air bubbles out, inserted it into Addison's IV and then sitting down quickly in the bed next to her and pulling her into her arms. She watched the monitor, as she stroked Addy's hair back, holding her tightly to help her feel safe.

"Okay," Cuddy whispered into Addy's sweat soaked hair, "you're okay." She gently rocked Addy, whose one normal eye was still wide, the other still slightly swollen shut, still seeing her mother in front of her, still believing it all. "Shhhhhhh." Cuddy shut her eyes, listening to the monitor and started humming slightly, the first thing that came to her head, which was the last thing she had heard before coming into the hospital, "Manic Monday."

"Oh God." House stood in the door way, allowing the nurses to file out around him. "You know, this used to be the coolest club in town until the squares took over." Cuddy glared at him from the bed as the heart monitor began to beep at a normal rate. "And since they instituted karaoke hour." Cuddy glared again and sighed as she felt Addy go slack in her arms. Her breathing began to return to normal and even though her eye was still open, her face was relaxed and she hiccuped once as she stared off into the void of the room.

"She's still having the hallucinations." Cuddy sighed as she gently slid out from under Addy and set her back on her pillow, pulling the covers back.

"She's got some swelling still." House seconded, not taking his eyes from the bed.

"It's been three weeks." Just then a nurse poked her head in the door, looking at Addison before saying,

"Doctor Cuddy, there's a man on the phone for you, he says he's with Newsweek."

"Newsweek?" Cuddy's eyebrow shot up questioningly.

"That's what he said." The nurse's face went blank as if searching her brain for some answer. Cuddy sighed heavily for the third time in less than an hour and after checking on Addison one more time, clicked out of the room.

The room was silent except for Addy's heart monitor. House stood, leaning on his cane for a moment watching her. After a while he sat down and picked up the TV remote, flipping the television on and switched the channel to ESPN. There was a hockey game on and the sound of screaming fans began to over take the sound of the heart monitor. House stared at the screen, trying desperately to focus on the score, yet not being able to completely clear his mind of the patient in the room with him. He watched her reflection in the screen as she stared out into the hallway through the doorway, almost seeming like she was expecting something horrible to come down the hallway towards them. He watched her hoping that eventually her eyes would leave the doorway and find their way up to the screen like they usually did. He would know that she was coming back if that happened, but it didn't. He watched the reflection and realized that it wasn't going to happen.

"Someone leaked about Addy." Cuddy sighed from her desk and looked up wearily at Cameron, Chase, Foreman, House and Wilson.

"What?" Wilson looked at the group around him, all sharing the same confused expression.

"One of the five dollar an hour security guards thought he could use some more money for his services and sold Addison's story to the media. I've had five news stations call so far. They're actually calling her an "unusual find". A find! Like she's some genetically altered animal."

"Great! She's my patient, I get the profits from the ticket sales." House snipped, spinning his cane and then slamming it to the floor where he leaned on it. Cuddy cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrow.

"The kid can't even take two people in her room at one time, you think she's going to be able to handle an interview?" Foreman spun around with his arms folded and quickly mirrored Cuddy's expression.

"I was going to offer to split it with you, but that deal's out." House loudly whispered out of the corner of his mouth. Making Foreman roll his eyes and turn back to Cuddy.

"What are you going to do?" Wilson cut in, trying to rein in his associates. Cuddy sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, looking down at her desk. House watched the woman's entire thought process move across her face and began to get frustrated.

"Oh God, you called us in here because you haven't got a clue, right? You needed your "peeps" to rally around you." He turned to Foreman. "Those slang words of yours are so awesome. Make it so much easier to stick it to the man when they have no clue what you're talking about, am I right? Or am I right?" There was silence.

"I've never met anyone like Addy. No one has. There's no protocol, there's no research. There are no answers, no clear ones any way... I feel completely lost here." Cuddy hadn't lifted her eyes from the desk, but continued to bore a hole in the wood with them, as if trying to locate the answers the grains.

"You should make a statement." Chase offered calmly after a small bout of silence. When he noticed everyone had turned towards him, he jumped slightly and then continued.

"People are afraid of things they don't understand. You make a statement, tell them Addy isn't as interesting as everyone claims she is and we don't see the villagers show up at our door with pitch forks and burning torches." Cuddy looked at the young doctor in front of her and began to worry slightly about the security of her job.

"The patient in question, came to our facility from an extremely abusive environment. She is being treated and we are hopeful that she will make a complete recovery." Cuddy filled the screen on the television in Addy's room. She was answering questions outside the hospital and looked slightly nervous.

"They should have pointed that microphone at that giant ass of hers, she seems to be talking more out of that then her mouth." House quipped taking a bite out of his Ruben and picking up his Mountain Dew.

"She's right, you know?" Wilson brought up, stealing House's chips before he could grab them away from him.

"About what, being clueless? We already knew that."

"There hasn't been a patient like Addy before."

Wilson commented almost half heartedly as he scarfed down more of House's chips.

"I know." House turned and looked over at Addison's bed. She watched the TV set intently with her open eye and then began watching Wilson and the chip bag. The wrapper was glinting in the sun and making bright shapes against the wall. Wilson still continued to watch the television set, oblivious to the fact that he was such a big source of entertainment. Addy watched the bag crinkle in the sunlight again, as Wilson plunged his hand into the bag once more pulling out another handful of chips. What was in the bag? How could he be pulling out piece of light and eating them? Addison couldn't take her eyes from the bag and House was noticing. He looked over and snatched the bag from Wilson.

"Hey!" He protested.

"You buy them next time, you can eat them." House snapped.

"I bought them this time!" Wilson shot back.

"Oh, well, then take it up with the kid." House turned back to Addison with the chips in his hand and pulled one out, holding it up to her mouth.

"Open up." Addison's eyes moved from Wilson to House and then slowly opened her mouth and closed it on the chip. It was amazing that light could taste that way. She was surprised by all of the different flavors on it and her mind was filled with all kinds questions. House was holding out another chip but Addison ignored it. Her eyes were on the bag once more glinting in the sun. She reached out with her hand as far as her wrist restraints would let her. He handed her the bag and watched in amazement as she touched the top. Why couldn't she hold the light in her hand? She felt the shiny, smooth material and watched the sunlight dance on it and for the first time in three weeks, Wilson and House saw a small smile slide across her face and then disappear as she tried to figure it out. Wilson stood and went to the window, closing the blinds. The glint on the bag went away, making Addy's eye brows go down and she looked over at Wilson at the window questioningly. Wilson opened the blinds again, making the glint on the bag return and the smile return to Addison's face. She touched the foil of the bag and continued to smile as the glint danced about her hand.

Just then there was a shadow stretching across the floor. A tall, large shadow, a shadow that held authority, a shadow that was all business. House and Wilson turned toward the owner of the shadow and Wilson immediately sheepishly smiled and let go of the blinds.

"How are you Doctor Howard?" The head of the hospital stood in the doorway, one arm down at his side and the other holding a clipboard loaded full of papers with white knuckles. He was a large man with thick rimmed glasses who commanded respect. And most of the time he got it, except, of course, from House who obviously slurped his Mountain Dew loudly.

"Not well, Doctor Wilson, not well at all." He stepped into the hospital room stiffly, trying to ignore the disgusting man with his feet outstretched lounging in front of him.

"Why wasn't I told about this patient the moment she was admitted to the hospital?" He said coldly as he walked over to Addison's bed. She was too absorbed in the chip bag to notice this new face in the room.

"We weren't aware that you wanted to know about every patient that comes into the hospital, Sir? If that's true then I have thirty that we just admitted today, that you could meet." House sniped rising from the chair and moving to the bed, knowing that Addison was going to get anxious with this new presence here.

"Doctor Howard!" Cuddy's voice was heard from the doorway, causing Addison to suddenly look up from the bag and notice Howard for the first time. She shrunk back into her blankets slightly, gripping the chip bag out of fear. Cuddy marched into the room, trying to fix her dress.

"You might want to fix..." House reached out towards Cuddy's chest, but his hand was instantly slapped.

"Why wasn't I informed about this patient?" Howard asked once more, this time with even more force behind it.

"Well, Sir, I didn't feel that you needed to be bothered with cases here at the hospital, not with all the fundraising events you've been planning." Cuddy tried to force a smile across her face.

"Well, something like...like this! I mean she's quite a find, Doctor Cuddy." Cuddy flinched slightly at Howard's words. "Do you know how long people have wondered about where we get our personalities from? Nature verses nurture? This could be the source for all of the answers we've wanted to know about human nature. This might be the key to the new research lab we were thinking of." Howard took out his pen light, clicking it on, leaned over the bed. Addison squirmed in the blankets, dropping the chip bag and turning her face away from him.

"Guess I'm not the only one looking at this kid with dollar signs in my eyes. And I thought we'd never have anything in common." House leaned on his cane, staring hard at Howard, who gave up on Addison and turned to House, clicking his pen light off.

"That's funny Doctor House. It's funny to make light of the fact that this hospital is in a serious deficit right now. A deficit that can effect patient care and your salary. Not to mention that our facilities are not equipped to monitor a patient of this type, as are clear from the shape of her face and lungs right now. In order for us to properly care for this patient we'll need up grades in many of our departments."

"I stand corrected we don't have anything in common." House snapped back not breaking eye contact with Howard. There was silence between the two before Cuddy finally stepped in.

"Why don't we discuss this in my office Doctor Howard? We can be more private there." Cuddy glared at House as she tried to wrangle Howard out of the room.

The room was silent again. The chip bag lay abandoned on the floor, Addison was watching out the window. The smile gone from her face again. And House and Wilson watched her for a moment, before House spoke up,

"From the arms of one psycho into another."


	16. Asses are Still Asses

Addison lay in bed, eye swollen staring out the window with the open one. She yawned and forced her eyes to stay open. She knew that once they were shut her mother would return and the morgue. She watched as a tiny bird landed on her sill and for a moment the two stared into each other. Addison watched as the bird hopped and tapped on the glass, aching to come in and steal a crumb from a tray or the cafeteria. Addison longed to be on the other side of the window looking in. She lay in bed, wrists restrained again, and remembered the hard floor of her mother's house and the cold concrete of the morgue and wished to be free from all of it, everyone. She watched the bird jump again, tapping feverishly on the glass and then all of a sudden something spooked it and it flew away, causing the slight smile that was beginning to form on her face to disappear.

"Hey Addy." Foreman's voice came from behind her, but her eyes were locked on the window, wishing for the bird to come back and give her hope. Foreman was surprised. Addison always turned when someone entered the room, he knew she wasn't asleep because he could see her open eyes in the reflection of the window.

"You okay Addy?" Foreman rounded the bed holding a spirometer to test Addison's lung capacity and found Addison glued to the window again, black circles under her eyes from nights of no sleep. House's cane was heard coming down the hallway and Foreman watched Addison some more, hoping to see her turn towards the door, but nothing happened. Addison ignored Foreman's presence and the sound coming down the hallway and the voice that filled the room afterward.

"Mornin' Ya'll!" House called out as he limped into the room. Addison furrowed her brow and focused more intently on the window.

"What's her reading?" He asked limping in and taking a sip on the soda in his hand.

"Haven't taken it yet?" Foreman walked over to the side of the bed and sat down in the office chair, wheeling to her face. He had given her this test before and it was becoming old hat. But today when he put the mouth piece up to her face, she turned away. He blinked for a moment and stood leaning over the bed, trying to get her to breath into the mouth piece. But she ignored him and turned her face again. House watched and took another sip of his soda, before setting it down and limping over to the bed.

"Someone gets fussy when she's tired, huh, Addy?" He reached over and took the spirometer from Foreman, who wasn't quite ready to give up yet. "Come on, let's go." He held the mouth piece directly in front of her mouth and waited. Addison completely ignored him. She was frustrated, she didn't want to look at him or the other man in the room. She wanted to be left alone. She didn't want to play with the toy that made the little ball rattle around today. She whined and rolled her face away from him again. House pursed his lips and watched her for a moment. She looked like hell, not just the swollen eye but the fact that she wasn't sleeping made her one open eye blood shot and her skin pale.

"Please! Quiet please!" Howard sat at the head of the table puffed like a peacock looking across the room as if servaying his servants. The rumble of the room slowed and came to a dull whisper, at this point Howard looked above his glasses and then turned back to the paper in front of him.

"As you all have read on the front page of today's news paper," Howard held the newsprint up off the table, a sketch of a half wolf half woman scrawled across the front, with a headline reading, "Princeton wild child creates coo nationwide." Howard looked proudly down for a moment, causing Cuddy to almost throw up in her mouth.

"We have quite a little feather in our cap, don't we? This meeting is to discuss what we are going to do about it." Howard placed the paper lovingly down on the table and then sat back in the office chair pyramiding his fingers across his chest.

"Is this really the place for this girl? Shouldn't we be looking for a facility more suited for her...needs?" A female doctor across from Cuddy gently put it.

"I'm surprised at you Dr. Banks, why only last month you were lodging complaints about how we don't have proper observation labs here and enough space for a therapy room. I would think you would be the first person in here to see the silver lining in this cloud." Howard smiled widely like a dog baring his teeth to show dominance.

Cuddy sat deep in her chair with what felt like a car battery in her stomach. She had been worrying about this moment since Addison had entered through the hospital doors. She knew that the vultures would eventually start circling.

"Doctor Cuddy, please help me out here?" The vulture had landed. Howard had swiveled his chair in her direction and was pyramiding his fingers across his chest.

"Well," She leaned forward looking around the table for some hopeful eyes, she saw none, "I would be lying if I said that I didn't understand the implications here. Addison's case is an extremely interesting one, but I feel that we can't forget that this is a human being that we're dealing with, not a lab rat. Addison needs stability and I don't believe she's ever going to get that strapped to a hospital bed, being tested all day."

"No one is suggesting that Doctor Cuddy. As you know everyone at this table graduated from medical school, we all understand what separates good science from poor science. Addison living here at the hospital makes no sense, we want to learn how human learns, non of us grew up in a fish bowl," Howard stood and began walking around the table, "we all grew up in...some what normal homes if I'm not mistaken. What I'm proposing we do is place Addison in a home, a controlled home and bring her into the hospital on a daily basis for short evaluations," Cuddy opened her mouth to protest but was stopped by Howard's finger and obvious lack of eye contact. "Followed by extensive therapy sessions, we want to make sure that she is getting all the rehabilitation that she needs so that we can release her into society."

"Like a criminal." Cuddy muttered.

"A controlled home?" A doctor at the end of the table spoke up after Howard had made a full rotation about the room. "What does that mean?"

"I mean, a home that is on board with us, a home that knows Addison's situation and would be able to comply with transporting her to the hospital on a daily basis. I have already compiled a list of hospital staff that have said that they would be willing to take her in with a 10,000 dollar a year raise for extra expenses." Cuddy rolled her eyes at the sound of the stipend.

"Has anyone asked Addison about this?" Cuddy breathed, trying to hold in her annoyance. Howard chuckled with others at the table.

"Addison's level of comprehension at this point wouldn't allow her to take part in this decision, Doctor Cuddy, be serious."

"I'm being completely serious. Addison has only really connected with limited staff since she's been here, do you honestly think that she's just going to start trusting the first person on your list that doesn't buy a plasma TV with that 10,000 dollars?"

"Yes, that limited staff that you mentioned, Doctor House... you would rather place this girl in the hands of a drug addict whose views on society and... you Doctor Cuddy are less than admirable to say the least. You would like this girl to learn from him? Well, I can honestly say that we have now learned our first thing from Addison, isolation limits ones judge of character." Howard chuckled again to himself as others around the table joined him.

"I'm not saying that..." Cuddy began.

"Then what are you saying, aside from Doctor House, there's no one else on your list, Doctor Cuddy except you, so I've heard."

The food on the tray sat there as it had for three hours. Addison continued to look out the window forcing her eyes open, ignoring the staff that came in to try to get her to eat and sound of the PSP that had been going constantly for the last half hour.

"Damn!" House shouted overly dramatic, glancing quickly at the bed for a reaction. "Bastard came out of no where." There was no movement in the bed. He sighed and turned off the PSP, grabbed his cane and limped to the chair in front of Addison's face. "Sometimes," he sighed again, "you can be almost as much of a pain in the ass as Cuddy is." He watched Addison for a moment before grabbing her tray and shoving some cold eggs on a fork and put it in front of her mouth. "Come on Addy, don't make me do the airplane." Addison didn't waiver. The smell of the food was making her feel sick to her stomach and the sound of House's voice was making her feel even worse. For the first time she wished that she was back in her room. No one was there to bother her when her mother was gone and the house was quiet. She rolled her head to the other side of the pillow, trying to roll over completely but the wrist restraints wouldn't allow her to. House stood and unfastened them, watching her roll over completely and then rub her open eye, trying to keep it open. House stood at the foot of the bed watching her try to fight sleep and after a while walked to the drawers by the window and opened the top drawer, taking out a needle and walked back over to the bed.

"I did something for you," he said taking her IV tube in his hand, "now you do something for me." He put the needle into the tube and pressed the plunger. Suddenly Addison saw the hallway get blurry and even though she continued to rub her eye to try to keep it open, in the end she couldn't stop the heaviness and she succumbed. House watched her sleep for a moment and then heard the unmistakable sound of a pair of pumps on the floor coming towards him. They stopped in the door way.

"How is she?" Cuddy asked exhausted. House turned to look at his boss and was surprised to see her normally pristine appearance was disheveled and unkempt.

"She's sleeping."

"She finally fell asleep." Cuddy sighed.

"With a little help from her friends." House held up the needle and shook it in the air, making Cuddy's hopeful smile fade. "You look like crap." House stated as he followed Cuddy to Addison's bed. She smirked and gripped the foot of the hospital bed watching the girl intently. "Asses still asses, I take it? Howard getting his new lab?"

There was a moments pause as House looked at Cuddy he saw something in her face that he had never seen before, it was a mix of worry and... joy.

"Howard got his lab...and I got a roommate."


	17. Into the Wild

Into The Wild

"Does Howard know that you're a wimp? Does he know that Addison's going to come out of this dressing like a hooker and having zero self respect?"

"Jealous House?" Cuddy sat at her desk filling out the last of the forms that would legally sign Addison's custody into her hands. It felt like she had been signing paper for hours. House sat in front of the desk with a lollipop, casually spinning his cane and watching his boss pour over the stack in front of her.

"Of course I am, think of all the pillow fights I'm going to miss between the two of you... putting each others bras in the freezer, talking about American Idol picks while braiding each others hair." Cuddy smirked but didn't break her concentration on her paper work. "Although I guess I could do all that with Wilson, except for the gabbing about American Idol, loser doesn't watch it. He is so lame." House fiend a valley girl accent and rolled his eyes girlishly. Cuddy signed the last piece of paper and sighed, putting the pen down on the desk.

"Done." All of a sudden there was a knock on the door and Doctor Howard's face appeared in the doorway.

"Doctor Cuddy, we're all set."

"So am I." Cuddy smiled briefly before standing and grabbing the "Bible" of forms.

"Doctor House, I'm surprised to see you here so late, as I remember you're usually the first one sprinting out to the parking lot at 5:00." Howard's lips curled into a wide grin, thinking that he had finally bested House.

"Hmm, doesn't sound like me" House gripped his cane and stood painfully on his leg, "I'm usually limping out the parking lot at around 4:30." He popped a vicodin dramatically, making Howard's sly smile fade into a grimace and limped from the office after Cuddy.

The moment they left the nearly sound proof office, the hallway was filled with sounds of Addison and the visiting doctors "getting to know each other". There was a loud crash followed by the sound of the shuffling of shoes on the tiled floor. House and Cuddy exchanged quick glances and quickened their pace.

"Addison, stop!" The voice was unfamiliar, one of the visiting doctors. There was a close sound of feet on floor, the sound of feet without shoes and House was nearly knocked off his feet as Addison bolted from the room.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." House reached out with his free hand gripping Addison's arm tightly. One of the night nurses that knew Addison rushed forward, taking Addison in her arms and holding her tight. "Oh yeah," House stated, watching Addison try to pull away from the nurse, "this is going to be fun."

"What happened?" Cuddy stood definitely in the room staring at the fallen IV pole and the five doctors with clipboards whose jackets where now askew and had looks of panic on their faces.

"I was simply trying to take her vital signs." The female doctor in the thick glasses began. Cuddy sighed and pinched her nose with her fingers.

"You can't simply walk in here and do what you want to her. She's not a normal patient, she doesn't understand vital signs or lab results. If this is ever going to work, all of us need to understand that this is uncharted territory, for all of us." Cuddy glared at Howard who now stood in the doorway. "We need to tread lightly here or we are going to do some real damage."

"Doctor Cuddy," The nurse in the hallway held Addison tightly from the hallway, Addy's face over her shoulder, struggling against her. She wanted to leave. The new people were strange and forceful. The man that had entered first had grabbed her arm and stabbed her with a needle. She watched the wall behind the nurse and then focused on the hallway. She was tired of being here. She saw the hallway and saw herself running down it, the wall at the end opening up and leading to the outside where the sun was shining and the dog with the woman was walking. Cuddy turned into the hallway and clicked out to the nurse, leaving the doctors inside her room to mumble in her wake.

Cuddy circled around the nurse to face Addison who was making small groans and struggling to pull free. Cuddy reached up and ran her hand through the girl's hair.

"It's okay Addison, we're going to get out of here. We're going to get your clothes and we're going to get out of here, I promise." Cuddy eyed the second nurse at the station who reached behind the desk and pulled out a small duffle bag.

"See? That's yours, we're going to get your shoes out okay?" The nurse came across and unzipped the bag as she did, taking out the sneakers that House had bought for her and a pair of socks. The doctors were filtering out of Addison's room and massively taking notes on all that they were seeing.

Addison couldn't focus on anything but the hallway. She was going to go down it, she was going to do what SHE wanted to do. She was sick of people holding onto her and tying her down. She was frustrated by locked doors and yelling. She was going to do what SHE wanted to do...right now.

House had watched the scene in front of him with a small smirk on his face. Watching everyone scrabble, including Cuddy was worth staying late. But now he was watching Addison's face, he had never seen her look this way before, angry. He watched her become complacent for a while as Cuddy and the doctors had been talking, but now, now that there were more watching her and more rules being forced on her, he saw her brow furrow, she was angry and wasn't going to make this easy.

Addison took in a deep breath and yanked herself full force from the nurses grip. The nurse had loosened the grip since Cuddy had entered the hallway. Addison bolted down the hallway toward the darkness, past rows and rows of occupied rooms, whose occupants turned to see a woman in scrubs rush past their doors at eight o'clock at night. The freedom felt wonderful, she could hear shoes behind her, hear people calling her name, but it all became a blur. There were red lights blinking on the wall now in rhythm with a siren sound, it was beautiful. The hallway was filled with red, it was blinking off the glass and tiles and as Addison ran she began to get caught up in it all. The hallway was coming to an end, leading down to a stair well. She stopped at the stairwell looking briefly at the flight of stairs. "Addison! Stop where you are!" Cuddy was rushing down the hallway remarkably fast on her pumps, being trailed by a nearly running House, the five doctors and two nurses. Addison looked down the flight of stairs and saw that they led out onto another door that went outside. She looking at the coming army bathed in red light and then turned towards the stairs and jumped.

"Oh God!" Cuddy breathed watching Addison disappear down the stairwell. Addison landed hard on the floor with all of her weight making pain shoot up her leg. She whined, yet shot up and began to hobble to the door. She reached out with her shaking hand and touched the cold metal handle. She bit her bottom lip in anticipation. She pushed in as she had seen others do and felt the door give way, a smile spread across her face as a freezing cold burst of air pricked her skin making goose-bumps form all down her arms. She lifted her aching leg and for the first time felt the feeling of the icy concrete on her bare toes. All of a sudden she heard a familiar Australian accent behind her.

"Addison?" She turned her head quickly to see Chase and Cameron coming up the stairs caring their current patient's files. She turned back to her destination, hearing the mob of feet growing louder and closer. she was going to make it through the door if it killed her.

"I don't think so." Chase dropped the files he was holding and lunged forward grabbing her arm. Addison let out a quick, loud whine of frustration and continued to pull as hard as she could against Chase. He used all of his strength and pulled her towards him. "Come here." He breathed and wrapped his arms in a bear hug around her remembering having to learn restraints during his psych rotation. She struggled in his arms, eyes still locked on the window, making him simply hold on tighter.

"Shhh, Addison calm down."

"Oh thank God." Cuddy gasped when she had rounded the corner and saw the scene in front of her. She clutched her heart and leaned against the wall.

"God are you people really that dense?" A frustrated voice was making its way through the crowd. "The kid wants to go outside, let her go outside." House limped forward and made his way slowly down the stairs. He smiled briefly at Chase struggling with Addison and shoved open the door, making the landing fill with frigid air. Addison's eyes grew huge with amazement at the night sky she saw in front of her. House reached through Chase's arms, grasping Addison's wrist.

"House, I..." Cuddy began to protest.

"It's okay, I've got her." House snapped back and turned towards Chase who was still maintaining his hold on Addison. "I said I've got her." House sighed. Chase looked from House to Cuddy wondering what to do. Cuddy watched for a moment before nodding.

"Doctor Cuddy! This is preposterous! She just got away from half your staff and now you're..." Howard began advancing forward, but Chase had already released Addison, who limped towards the door, House's hand like steal around her wrist. She stood in the doorway for a moment, letting the wind blow her bangs and short hair, prickling the scar on her face from where her mother had hit her with the IV pole. She smiled at House, letting out a tiny laugh, and then began to limp out the door.

The moment Addison left the landing and had her bare feet on the concrete, she began to feel the sharp pains of coldness cutting through her skin. She winced and bit the inside of her bottom lip but didn't move.

"Cuddy, give me the bag." House shouted back into the building and before he knew it Cuddy was out in the freezing wind with the duffle bag.

"She's going to get pneumonia out here." Cuddy shivered and took out Addison's snowboarding jacket from the bag, draping it over her shoulders and pulling her arm through. House reached over and gripped her other hand so that Cuddy could pull the second arm through. Chase walked out with the sneakers and knelt down in front of Addison, putting her sneakers on and then getting up, trying to rub warmth back into his already numbing arms.

"Go warm up your car, we'll meet you there." House told Cuddy without taking his eyes off of Addison. One of the nurses had returned with House's jacket and handed it to him, he put it on quickly shifting Addison from one hand to the other as he did. Cuddy rushed from the landing to get her keys as the five doctors began to advance with their clipboards.

House took a stride forward, causing Addison to begin to limp next to him. The two looked like the perfect pair. The doctors began to follow behind.

"Hard to get some privacy around here." House stated loudly, leering over his shoulder.

"Doctor House, we need to observe this interaction." Doctor Howard began.

"She's going to be a little hard to observe if she's dead in a snow bank some where from running from you jack asses and since she won't let you jackasses touch her, I'm the only jack ass that gets to observe her this time." House quipped holding up Addison's wrist and wagging it in the air. There was silence between the doctors as they eyes each other, silence and then Howard indicated the doorway, telling his staff that they needed to go inside. The seemed all to excited to rush back into the warm building.

"They're going inside," Howard stated to House, "I'm staying." House looked slanted at Howard before sighing and starting to limp toward the parking lot, continuing to grip Addison's wrist. "She needs to get used to me." Howard began, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Does that mean I do too?" House chided, watching Addison look up at the stars and smile.

"As a matter of fact it does. As of right now, Addison is no longer your patient Doctor House. She's Doctor Cuddy's." Howard continued trying to hide his internal shivering.

" I get it. You think that Cuddy's going to do everything your way because she's afraid of loosing the hospital's piggy bank. Trust me, she is much more of a pain in the ass then you give her credit for." Addison yanked on House's hand trying to see further into the tree line circling the hospital. "Hey!" He pulled her towards him and tightened his grip.

"That's funny Doctor House, there are multiple people on the board that say the same thing about you." Howard smiled his shark smile again, yet House could see his bottom lip quiver from the cold.

"They're still saying that? God, that's getting old. Maybe I should start a new rumor.. what do you think? Should I be getting a sex change or joining a nudist colony?" Addison pulled House's arm again, chirping in excitement as she watched the headlights on the cars pulling into the parking lot. Everything was so gorgeous! She wanted so badly to touch the colored light wondering what they would feel like. "Come on kid, almost there."

"I want it to be known Doctor House, that even though I thank you for your help tonight, you will no longer be seeing Addison after tonight as her physician and if I catch word that you have been administering any form of treatment to her, I'll have your ass." Howard grabbed House's cane, making him stop and stare into the doctor's eyes. "And trust me it won't just be yours on the line." Howard looked up to Cuddy who was standing beside her running car, rubbing her hands together and trying to find them in the darkness. Howard issued House one last look and turned, leaving House alone with his thoughts and Addy making excited sounds and pulling on the end of his arm.

"House, is she okay?" Cuddy's voice was heard over the incoming cars and the darkness.

"She's fine. She's already picking up your damn stubbornness, but she's fine. I think she twisted her ankle on Doctor Howard's ego however." House limped up to the car, Addison limping behind him watching the head lights in awe. Addy turned and saw Cuddy wanting badly to share the amazing thing she was seeing. She shook Houses arm and pointed at the headlights on the cars and squeaked excitedly.

"Do you like those Addy? Huh?" Cuddy shivered, rubbing her arms. "I've got an ace bandage in the car." Cuddy continued, looking to House.

"You get in. I'll get her in on this side." Cuddy climbed into the drivers side of the car and switched her head lights on. Addison squealed in delight and yanked on House's arm so much it pulled him off balance and he was forced to comply with her for a moment. She went to the front of the car and put her hand on the head light, it was warm under her hand and she bit her lip in excitement. She grabbed House's hand and forced it on the light. He stood with his hand on the head light, shocked, it was the first time Addison had initiated their "communication". He watched her for a minute before sighing and pulling her back to the passenger side door. "Fun is over. Time to get in the car with Hitler." He opened the door and was surprised to see Addison look into the car and immediately climb in, transfixed by the lights on the dashboard. Cuddy handed House the ace bandage and as Addy amused herself with the dash board, he took off her sneaker and began to wrap her ankle tightly.

"What did Howard say?" Cuddy began.

"Oh, normal stuff. Thank you House for your brilliance. Can I have your autograph? Make sweet, sweet love to me Doctor House." House concentrated on the bandage, trying to get it right as Addy shifted around.

"He doesn't want you part of this." Cuddy stated after a while.

"He doesn't want YOU part of this either." House continued as he finished the bandage. He stood, made sure Addison was in the car, watched as Cuddy buckled her in and shut the door. Cuddy issued him a weak smile and in a few moments the car started and Addison was beginning her journey into the wild.


	18. Mirrors and Ladders

The car was far from silent, despite the fact that one of the passengers couldn't speak. From the moment Cuddy began to move, Addison's eyes grew huge as the strange feeling of being in a moving object came over her. The tires vibrated and buzzed beneath her and out the window objects and buildings flew by, yet it felt as if they weren't moving at all. Were they moving or were the objects outside? Addison pressed her hand against the glass, a wide smile on her face, occasionally making loud excited squeaks and looking to Cuddy as if Cuddy was unaware of what was going on around her.

"Yeah, this is New Jersey." Cuddy watched Addison as intently as she could while still keeping her eyes on the road. It was amazing watching her, Cuddy's mind was filled with so many questions, what did that feel like. to see the world whiz by you like that for the first time? The buildings were tall and mysterious and as Addison watched she saw all kinds of new people beginning their nights by going into bars and restraints. The streets and blocks went on and on and Addison was amazed that so many new and interesting things could be crammed into such a little amount of space. She was sad that they were going by so quickly that she couldn't really get a proper look at them. Then all of a sudden the objects began to slow and then eventually stop.

"Okay." Cuddy sighed nervously and sat for a minute watching Addison, who was anxious to get out of the car and look around. With a second sigh, Cuddy exited the car and circled around to the front, feeling happy that she had set the child locks before getting Addison into the car. She reached and opened the door, watching Addison's excited face through the window.

"Alright Addy, now I don't want you..." Just then there was the sound of another car and a flash of headlights, followed by a second car and pair of headlights. Cuddy glanced up to see Wilson and House's cars parking in front of her house and she grumbled silently to herself.

"Don't you two have lives?" She issued at them, making steam push from her mouth in the chilled air.

"Nope." House lifted himself from the drivers seat with his cane, "And unless you call watching Desperate Housewife marathons on his couch with a cup of tea a life, then neither does he." He continued wagging a thumb at Wilson who was locking the door to his car. Cuddy rolled her eyes and leaned into the car, unbuckling Addison's seat belt, hand already on her wrist.

"Alright, here we go." Addison nervously bit her lip while looking up at the street around her. The street lamps were gorgeous and the snow underneath glinted and shimmered. Cuddy started towards the door, Addison trailing behind her continuing to look everywhere around her. House and Wilson joined the small parade heading to Cuddy's front door. Addison looked up at the house and Cuddy watched the thought process go across her eyes like a movie screen. She began to dig her feet into the snow, ignoring the pain as the flakes cascaded over the tops of her sneakers, touching her bare ankles. Cuddy flashed a look toward House and Wilson, nervous, unsure.

"Give me your keys." Wilson asked eyes filled with hope. Cuddy reached deep into her pocket with her gloved hand, pulled the keys out and tossed them across the front steps at Wilson's waiting hand. Addison's brows furrowed and she looked back into the street, making her normal nervous sounds. Wilson charged up the steps and unlocked the door, shoving open the door and turning on all the lights.

"How is it he knows where all the light switches are in there?" House asked watching Wilson dart around the living room.

"We're friends." Cuddy shot back nearly being pulled down the stairs by Addison's pulling.

"With benefits?" House continued. But it was Wilson who ended it. He stood at the top of the steps and clapped his hands, causing everyone to jump and turn towards him and the bright house behind him.

"Addy!" Addison turned cautiously, peeking around Cuddy into the house. "Come on." Wilson walked into the house slowly disappearing around the corner. Addison raised an eyebrow, not sure what was going on. "House, get in here!" Wilson hollered from inside the living room. House sighed and limped slowly up the steps into the house, Addison watching intently the whole time and letting out a small yawn. Cuddy looked down from the steps hopefully at the girl who looked quizzically up the stairs. Just then there was the distinct sound of the television turning on and the sound of The Late Show glaring across the living room. Addison's eyes lit up slightly, instantly more interested in the goings on inside the house.

"Come on, let's go see." Cuddy smiled kindly down at Addison when the girl stared up at her wondering. She slowly began to walk through the door and was ecstatic when Addison began to follow her. Addison was shaking, the outside of the house was bringing back memories, memories of her mother, of her room. She shoved up behind Cuddy as though using her as a shield and peeked out from her side.

"It's okay, it's okay." Cuddy whispered to her as they moved across the threshold Addison following tightly behind her. Wilson smiled from the living room as Cuddy stopped and shut the door behind Addison. Addy was still pressed up firmly against Cuddy's back watching every movement around her, yawning again.

"Okay, let's get your coat off, huh?" Cuddy sighed, still trying her best to sound up beat. Wilson stepped forward and started to help, kneeling down on the floor to untie Addison's shoes. House sat in the living room watching Addison take in the world around her. What was going through her head? What could a person who had no contact with the outside world think of Cuddy's anal living situation? Addy looked down the hallway as Cuddy pulled her arm out of the sleeve and suddenly saw something amazing. What was it?

She hummed fixed on the object down the hallway, House and Cuddy had noticed that this was a way that Addison expressed curiosity without having the words to say it. Her brows would furrow and she would hum softly as if in careful thought.

"What is it Addy? You see something?" Cuddy smiled taking Addison's jacket off all the way and hanging it on the pegs by the door. House was intrigued and stood from the chair he was seated on, leaning on his cane.

"What is she looking at?" He asked limping forward.

"I don't know." Cuddy squinted down the hallway trying to make it out. Then she understood. There was a full length mirror at the end of the hallway. She stood in front of it every morning making sure she looked professional enough to deal with the hospital politics she dealt with every day. Now it captivated Addison like nothing they had ever seen. She began to move towards it, humming softly the entire time. What was it? It looked like there were more people in the room with them. But the people looked just like House, Cuddy and Wilson. The three doctors followed her closely, intrigued.

Addison was inches from the mirror now. She instantly reached out and touched it, amazed that it was a flat surface and not another room. Her brows furrowed and the familiar humming started again. She looked from Cuddy to the mirror version of Cuddy. She reached out and touched the glass where Cuddy's face was and then turned and touched her real face, making Cuddy jump slightly at the fact that this girl was initiating physical contact. Cuddy smiled at Addy who quickly turned away from her and back to the mirror. This time she focused on Wilson, after touching the mirror Wilson, she turned and touched Wilson's face, making him smile like Cuddy. Lastly it was House who she looked at in the mirror and touched the surface before reaching and touching his face. Wilson and Cuddy exchanged looks as House uncomfortably allowed Addy to make the connection. Addy smiled and yawned, looking back at the mirror. Cuddy moved in close, still smiling.

"And who is this? Is that you?" Addison looked into Cuddy's eyes tiredly not understanding what she was saying but still smiling. Cuddy realized that this wasn't working. She was going to speak in Addison's language. She picked up Addison's hand and made her touch her own face with it and then touch her mirror image.

"This is you." Cuddy smiled again, wondering if she was making sense to her. Addy followed Cuddy's movements from her face to the mirror with the smile wide on her face, as if it was a game, but then something happened. Cuddy did it for the third time, Addison's hand went to her face and then the mirror, but when she tried to make her do it a fourth time, Addy wouldn't let Cuddy take her hand away from the mirror.

"Addison, are you okay?" Addison stood in front of the mirror, hand on the glass staring, her smile was gone and her face was filled with confusion. Her hand went slowly to her own face, watching the mirror image do the same thing. She started tracing her face with her hand, watching intently as the mirror did the same. She bit her bottom lip, nervously as she traced the scar on her face from her mother's use of the IV pole.

"Oh my God." Wilson whispered as he realized what was going on. He wondered how long it had been since Addison had seen her face. He pictured in his own mind what it would feel like to think you looked one way your whole life and then be shocked to find out you have aged without even knowing it. A tear began to form in Addison's eye and it slowly trickled down her cheek. So much had changed. Cuddy put her arms around her pulling her away from the mirror.

"Come on, lets get you in bed." As Cuddy pushed Addy away from the mirror, Addy continued to sneak glances at it over Cuddy's shoulder. Addison's hand went back to her face and up through her hair as she remembered every piece of what she saw in the mirror, the stranger that she had become. She opened her mouth to voice her confusion and frustration, another tear running its way to the floor as she made a quick whine.

--

"God, can you imagine thinking that your face hasn't changed in twenty years." Wilson began as he watched Cuddy, turn down the bed in the back room of her house.

"Cuddy can, can't you Cuddy?" House stated not taking his eyes away from the Late Show as Jay Leno interviewed Lindsay Lohan. Addison sat inches from the screen on the floor completely engulfed in the movement. House tried desperately to see around Addy's head before getting frustrated and pushing himself up out of the chair and grabbing her arm. She jumped, forgetting that there were other people in the room.

"Come on Addy, I can't see her breasts through your head." House pulled Addison's arm making her look at him quizzically and slide back across the carpet.

"Glad to see you still have your priorities straight." Wilson sat back in the chair, slumping low and yet, found he was being distracted by the interview as well. Just then Jay Leno made a quip about George Bush, causing both Wilson and House to laugh briefly. Addison simply sat, head tilted watching the screen, silent.

"Man, that's a waste." House stated glaring at Addison from his chair and picking up one of Cuddy's many scented candles.

"What is?" Wilson's eyes were locked on Lohan.

"This kid's missing out on the best time for comedy. This administration, Lindsay Lohan, Cuddy's ass. God, she really was abused. Look at her." Wilson smirked at the fact that they were showing a clip of Bush's recent press conference flubs with a highly serious, highly quizzical look on her face.

"That is a travesty." Wilson quipped.

"Alright, come on Addy. Bedtime." Addison's eyes were slowly brought from the television to Cuddy who stood in the living room now, obvious signs of exhaustion showing on her face. Her hair was unkempt and there were tell tail signs of bags beginning to make their way under her eyes. When Addison's eyes went back to screen, Cuddy stepped forward snatching the remote from House's lap and turning the TV off.

The picture snapped to black, making the room suddenly an eerie quiet. Addison yawned and rubbed her eye, looking around at the room for more new things to look at. Cuddy walked to the bedroom and switched on the light, making Addison look in her direction yawning again. The bed looked comfortable and warm and even though there was an immense pull to investigate the remainder of the house. Addison stood and walked slowly to the bedroom, making Wilson and House follow her.

There was a pair of pajamas on the bed and both Wilson and House started into the room without even thinking that Cuddy was about to help her into the pajamas and suddenly found themselves being shoved back out and the door being slammed in their faces. It was silent in the hallway and Wilson and House exchanged looks.

"So how have you been?" House stated breaking in the silence. It was a matter of minutes before the bedroom door swung open again and found Addison already in bed with her back to them. Her clothes draped over a chair next to them. Cuddy sighed and stepped into the hallway with her two colleagues running her hand through her hair and down her face.

"She goes in tomorrow for her first day with the new team." Cuddy sighed again, folding her arms in front of her and leaning on the wall.

"Well, at least she'll have a familiar face there." Wilson began.

"What do you mean?" Cuddy stopped leaning.

"Howard made a call tonight to our favorite Australian. He thinks that he's ready to head up this whole thing." Cuddy stood shocked.

"He didn't tell me anything about this." Cuddy began to instantly get more pale.

"Damn it," House began, "I should have seen it. Chase called in a favor." House began spinning his cane. When he was met with blank faces he went on, "A few weeks ago some horse faced kid in Chase's class got up further on the corporate ladder. Chase's dad was golfing buddy's with Howard before he kicked. Chase gets further up and Howard gets to screw with me, it's a win-win. Damn."

"He said that he's going to keep him on your staff part-time." Wilson tried to ease the news. Suddenly a smirk came over House's face, the kind of smirk that happens when he gets an idea, like the Grinch before taking over Christmas. "Should I tell Chase to wear a cup tomorrow?" Wilson began.

"Tell him to wear full hockey gear."


	19. Sandra Kennedy

"Another young girl has been found missing this morning. Sandra Kennedy, a twenty year old college student at Princeton, was last seen walking back to her dorm room late Thursday evening after socializing with some of her classmates in town. Police are linking Kennedy's disappearance with the continuing cases of several other women that have gone missing since early December. At this time police are searching for evidence and leads based on the five cases and are encouraging all women to walk in groups if traveling on foot in or around the area. In other news..." Cuddy's glare jumped from the television screen to the movement behind her and found Addison standing with puffy morning eyes and fly away hair. She held her breath, wondering all morning how this was going to play out. She was alone now with this girl and for the first time she wished House and Wilson were back.

"Okay," She sighed trying to hide her mounting nerves, "let's get some breakfast going." She stood from her chair, smiling politely at Addison who returned the smile with a sleepy rub of her eye and a shiver. "Are you cold?" Cuddy instantly rushed forward grabbing a blanket from the back of the couch and draping it around Addy's shoulders. "The house is a little drafty. I've looked at getting new windows put in, but I just haven't gotten around to it." Addy pulled the blanket around her and stared past Cuddy at the window where the snow was falling lightly. Cuddy instantly realized she had been babbling to someone who didn't care or understand a word of what she was saying. She glanced at the window quickly herself and then started towards the kitchen.

"It's snowing again, which means that it's going to be slow getting into the hospital." She was babbling again, but she didn't care. It was making her feel better. Addison was an adult, not a child. She was going to try to treat her like an adult and start by trying to have some sort of adult conversation with her. She grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and set it on the counter. The sound of the clinking plates perked Addison's curiosity and she made her way into the kitchen, the blanket dragging along on the floor behind her. "I was thinking after we get done today we could take a trip to the grocery store. I don't really have much and I don't know what you..." Addison startled her, not hearing her enter the kitchen, "...hi." Cuddy looked closely at Addy for a moment as she took a box of cereal down watching the girl calculate her every movement with active interest. "Do you like cereal?" Cuddy started shaking the box into the bowl and as the Cheerios fell Addison put her hand into the stream slowly making the small O's bounce off her hand and fall onto the floor, making Cuddy smile. Although the smile didn't last long when she saw Addison hurriedly throw herself on the floor and begin to scoop the cereal up. She knew any moment Cuddy would be kicking her with her heel or slapping her across the face. She began shoveling the food in her mouth, getting rid of it, doing the thing her mother always made her do when she spilled food, eat it off the floor.

"Hey, hey, hey," Cuddy tossed the box on the counter and crouched down immediately next to the girl who was terrified and ignoring her. "Addison, stop, it's okay." Addy shoveled in more and more, her cheeks full, crumbs falling from her lips. Cuddy reached out and grasped her wrists pulling the girl from the floor and forcing her to her eye line. "It's okay." Cuddy looked her sternly in the eye and reached up to stroke her hair. Addison knew this was the slap that she had been expecting and her eyelids fluttered in anticipation. "Shhhhhh." Cuddy pushed her fingers through Addison's uneven short hair, surprised at herself by fact that this had been such an immediate response for her, someone who had never been around youth very long. Addison looked away from Cuddy's eyes at the window and then down at the floor, cheeks still full of fallen cereal, trying slowly to force them down her throat.

--

"I'm not saying that she wouldn't have sex with you, in fact that's exactly WHAT I'm saying, I'm saying that she uses it like I use my stethoscope, it's a tool."

"They say that's what separates us from the beasts, our ability to use tools. Thank God for evolution, huh?" House sipped his coffee in front of his soap, which he and Wilson were currently watching. Nurse Veronica crossed the screen unbuttoning the top button of her uniform and exposing herself to a young doctor that was a new addition to the show.

"Lucky bastard." House shot again, before taking another long sip of his coffee. Just then there was the sound of someone clearing their throat and attention was taken away from the screen to the new person in the room. Robert Chase stood in the doorway, hands behind his back wearing what appeared to be a freshly pressed shirt and newly polished shoes.

"Whatever you're selling, we don't want any." House quipped and turned his attention back to the television which now aired a commercial for Snuggles. Wilson sat back a little more in his seat, wanting to be out of the line of fire and yet still get a clear view of all that was about to go on.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. But I thought you would understand." Chase took a step into the office gingerly.

"You did, did you?" House's eyes remained glued to the Snuggles bear.

"You always preach to us about not being hypocritical, the importance of being truthful, taking care of ourselves..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I also taught you to stick it to the man or woman, whoever the dean of medicine might be. Not only are you not sticking it to him, but you're polishing his ass before you kiss it. I'm jealous." House stood as the commercial went back to the show and Wilson was shocked when it didn't make him cut the conversation short, this must be really important, he wished he had popcorn.

Chase hung his head, knowing full well that this was how it was going to go, he wished he had a shot.

"What the hell do you know about this thing? Heading up departments means that you actually know about the department you're heading up. What you know about Addison could fill up a..."

"And you? How much do you know about her?" House was slightly taken a back by this sudden burst from Chase. "How much does Cuddy or Wilson or even Howard, for that matter know about her? We're all going into this blind. We're all guessing." House stared at the floor, gripping his cane with white knuckles, making Chase shake his head and sigh, "Howard is an ass, but he's got pull. If I do this I can get head positions on other research projects, maybe start one of my own."

"And what does Addison get? Kinda' makes me want to join PETA, all this testing on animals that goes on around here." House continued to stare down at the floor.

"What are you saying? That you actually care about what happens to her?" Chase shot back.

"I CARE about good science. I CARE about the fact that this is a huge scientific discovery and they have an infant with a labcoat at the helm." House was stepping closer to Chase as the words spat form his mouth, but Chase wasn't backing down. Wilson stood, almost believing that Chase might throw a punch. It was at this moment, right when the tension was the thickest and both House and Chase's faces couldn't get any redder, there was the sound of a throat being cleared in the doorway. All three men spun to see the cause and found Cuddy and Howard with shocked faces filling in the frame.

"Doctor Chase." Howard was still staring daggers at House who returned the favor. "We're ready to begin." There was a small humming sound from behind Howard and everyone saw that Cuddy's hand was holding tightly onto Addison's. Addison's hair was wet and already starting to stick up in all directions. Cuddy had obviously gotten her into the shower. She wore a Princeton, Plainsboro hoodie that hung off her frame, appearing nearly two sizes too big. Addison stared up the hallway nervously. Why was she back here?

"Was that sweatshirt your idea?" House shot at Howard through the thick silence in the room. "A little free advertising when the papers come?" Howard's lips pursed and he eyed Chase, giving him a look that said, 'Let's go." Chase nodded and turned on his heel out the door, both Wilson and House noting that he adjusted his posture while doing so. Cuddy watched them for a few moments and sighed.

"Come on Addison, let's go." There was a pit in Cuddy's stomach that wouldn't let her be, it was eating away at her and making her mouth dry. Was this the right thing to be doing? Addy's eyes flowed from the hallway to the people around her, almost just noticing that there were others around her. She saw House and Wilson and a wide smile came across her face, she knew their faces and it made her feel more at ease. She could hear the TV in the office and was excited to watch it, unknowingly she took a step into the office, but Cuddy's hand pulled her back.

"No Addy, we're going this way." She began down the hallway slowly, noticing Howard and Chase waiting, watching half way down. A female doctor, the one that had tried to take Addison's vital signs the night before, stuck her head out of a door close to Howard.

"Dr. Howard, I was told that we were going to be starting at nine o'clock. We have a lot of tests to complete today."

"Yes, yes I know Dr. Moy. The patient is on her way." Howard stated stiffly, shoving his glasses up higher on his nose and turning once again towards Cuddy.

Cuddy held in her breath, releasing it slowly and pulled on Addison's hand again.

"Come on." She said trying to sound sweetly and walking, forcing Addison to follow her. Addison walked slowly keeping her eyes on House as long as possible before disappearing from his view. There was silence once again in the office as House looked out to the hallway, bruiting while Wilson looked down at his shoes. The only sound in the room was the television which cut in with a special report.

"This is News Channel 5 with a special report. Clothes have been found on the West Highland Access located just three miles from downtown Plainsboro. At this point they are suspected, but not confirmed to belong to Erin Lasterly, a college student missing since December 15th. Police have found DNA on the clothing and at this point are unsure if it belongs to Lasterly or her assailant. The Plainsboro police force has doubled the amount of officers on the streets and Princeton security has hired four new officers to patrol the campus nightly. Stay tuned for further information on this case." The news anchor flashed off the screen and was replaced by Doctor Victor Franco, who was dramatically puffing on a cigarette in the middle of the woods.

"Thank God you showed up. I've been waiting for hours."

"I'm sorry, disposing of a body takes longer than five minutes Doctor."

"Well, at least with David out of the way, we can finally be alone." Nurse Veronica breathily gasped, locking Victor in a pouty kiss.

"That's interesting, she doesn't appear to have lost her spacial awareness." There were doctors hovering over Addison, scribbling away on clipboards as they watched her stack blocks into different towers. Chase pulled out another bin and spilled it out on the table.

"Addison, Addison," She was in deep concentration trying to get the blocks to line up, while Chase tried to hand her another block, "Addison?" She finally turned to see that Chase was holding a block with a curved top. "Where does this go?" He handed Addison the block and everyone waited. She looked at the block for a long time, feeling the curve with her hand. It felt smooth and she liked it. She slowly placed the block on the tower with the others and then began to build around it, finding another block that dovetailed into the curved one and placed it on top. There were many "ooohhhh" and "aaaaaaaahs" from the doctors followed by scribbling and clicking of pens. Doctor Howard looked about the crowd proudly as if it were he that had figured out this amazing trick. Addison wasn't paying attention to the others around her now, the blinds were open in the room and she could see outside. Her stomach was beginning to hurt, but she didn't care.

"Okay, Addison," Chase pulled out a lamented card with a structure on it to recreate, "now, I want you to..." Chase looked up to find that Addison was out of her chair and staring down at the yard below where there were several student dressed in outdoor gear throwing a frisbee. It was amazing. Chase followed her to the window, looking down at what was captivating her and then looked carefully at her, hearing her stomach growl, he checked his watch. It was already one o'clock.

"I think we should take a break for lunch." Chase commented turning to the other doctors.

"Doctor Chase, we're on such a roll here, surely we..." Dr. Moy began over her clipboard.

"No, Debbie, Dr. Chase is right. We could all use a break." To Chase's surprise it was Dr. Howard that was advocating for him. There was minimal muttering between the other doctors as they began to file out of the lab, exchanging notes, leaving Chase, Howard and Addison alone.

"She's amazing." Howard began stepping up to the two of them. "The way her mind works." Chase smiled sheepishly not knowing really what to say. "You're supposed to go back to House at 1:30?"

"Yes." Chase sighed almost dreading having to go back into that conference room and face whatever horrible assignment House had cooked up to punish him.

"If you don't mind me asking Dr. Chase, why are you even bothering staying employed by him?" Howard leaned on the window next to Addison, who was oblivious to all going on around her. Chase paused. Where was this going?

"I want to keep my options open and I've been with House for years. He's an amazing teacher." Chase rambled on, hoping that Howard would stop him.

"Wow, he's really got you trained doesn't he?" Howard raised an eyebrow.

"Sir?"

"House is an excellent teacher huh? That's interesting. He's a teacher that doesn't let his students actually try what he's teaching. Have you once headed up a case on your own? Have you even got a chance to hold that blessed dry-erase marker of his? House is a good teacher like help my daughter with her homework. I do most of the problems myself because I don't want them to be wrong," he laughed, forcing Chase to laugh politely,"But you know what I found? My daughter stopped coming to me for help because she wanted to do it on her own and guess what? Her math tests came home with more A's than C's." Chase began to walk to the table, leaving Addison at the window to clean up the blocks. "You stick with House, you'll learn, you'll learn what he wants you to learn, how to be a gopher." Chase stopped and stared down at the last block in his hand. "I gave you this position because I knew you could handle it, I've only known you a year, House has known you for three and he gets more out of you than I do. Something here not adding up?" Howard remained at the window leaning on it, clipboard held to his chest with a smirk of confidence across his face.

"I've got to get Addison to lunch." It was all that Chase could say, his mind was swimming. He pointedly walked to Addison and took her hand. "Come on Addy, let's go to lunch." The window was interesting, but Chase was walking towards the door, which meant that she could get out of this room. She followed him without a fuss.

"Good job." Chase smiled, squeezing her hand to let her know that she had done well.

The cafeteria was alive with people coming and going, laughing and reading, yet the moment Chase stepped into the room with Addison, there was almost a lull that fell over them. The newspapers had made their way to every hand in the room and the secret patient that had been hidden on the third floor was now becoming public. Chase felt like he was an animal in the zoo, yet Addison seemed oblivious to all that was going on and was focused on something coming towards them. A smile spread across her face as House limped up to them.

"Oh god." Chase muttered under his breath.

"Fancy meeting you here." House quipped joining both Addison and Chase in line. "You're going to be joining us after this, right? That's how this is going to work? He gets the best caffeine induced thinking and I get the crap left over."

"No." Chase was short, not wanting this conversation to continue, while putting food for both him and Addison on the tray. Addison watched, it looked like a fun game and there were all kinds of brightly colored and packaged things in front of her. She watched as doctors around her talked and ate from their trays as they went, shooting glances at her every once and a while.

"You actually like working for a tight ass like that?" House continued on grabbing a tray and following behind Addison, who was being held onto with Chase's free hand.

"It's actually refreshing." Chase set an apple on the tray with an air of importance.

"Ouch, Chase was that a burn?" House grabbed a brownie from the line and took a bite out of it before putting it on his tray. Addison watched intently, it smelled amazing. She looked at the plate of brownies and reached out grabbing one, getting ready to take a bite, before Chase and House lunged for her, knowing her blood sugar would sky rocket,

"Ah, ah, ah, no dessert before lunch, young lady." House grabbed Addison's wrist, while Chase removed the brownie.

"Sorry," he issued to the bewildered lunch lady as she watched him put the now deformed brownie back on the plate. House eyed Addison before picking up his own brownie and taking a bite out of it. She furrowed her eye brows in confusion and reached for the brownie on House's tray making him move it to the other side.

"Chase will you teach her to keep her hands to herself?" House took another bite of the brownie in front of her. Now Addison was getting frustrated. She reached for the brownie again, House moving it above his head. "Chase, make her stop." He fake whined.

"Addison, stop! Here." He put an apple in her hand, which she promptly began to investigate. "Stop provoking her." Chase snapped at House.

"I'm not provoking her. What, I'm supposed to stop living my life around her just because she can't have something? She needs to understand that the world isn't fair." House continued as they reached the cash register.

"And the fact that Howard is four people behind us in line has nothing to do with this little life lesson of yours? You're intentionally trying to make me look inept at my job." Chase reached for his wallet with force.

"Apparently I don't have to try to hard." House stated peeking back at Howard who had zeroed in on him and was not breaking eye contact. House waved happily at him, making him break his stare.

"You don't have to make her suffer just to get at me." Chase began, taking his money out to pay the woman at the register.

"Oh please she's not suffering, look at her." Chase glanced at Addison who was done investigating the apple and was holding it like a squirrel in her hands, almost forgetting that she was holding it, taking in all that was around her. "And since when did you turn all Christlike. We've proven that she's not possessed by the devil, you don't have to go all "holy" on us." Chase rolled his eyes wishing that this constant annoyance would go away. The lady at the register handed him his change and returned to her book, sucking on her pen cap as she did. Addison watched the door of the register slam shut with a small ring and continued to watch it as she trailed after Chase, being followed by House.

"Ah, there's Wilson, what do you say we have a lunch date? I've always wanted to try a foursome, I never have enough money." House leaned on his cane, tray in free hand, unmoving. "Or I could just sit with the two of you alone, could be nice, Wilson's getting boring anyway." Chase sighed knowing that the annoyance was never going to end. He complied and followed House to Wilson's table where he sat pouring over some charts. He looked up, surprised by the sudden group that had appeared in front of him.

"Hi." He said awkwardly, still holding one corner of a chart.

"Shove over." House dictated and began moving the charts himself after setting down his tray.

"Hey, hey, hey, there's an order to these." Wilson began to hold the pages down, trying to take control over the situation.

"Oh, please." House plunked himself in a chair and started to unscrew the top of his Vitamin Water. Chase waited a minute for Wilson to clear a way and sat down, Addison quickly following. "I see you've taught her how to sit, Howard must be insufferable, when do you guys start working on housebreaking?"

"How are things going?" Wilson asked shooting House a glance and trying to ignore his comments.

"Good so far..." Chase began to explain everything that they were learning from watching her and Wilson intently listened, nodding every so often and issuing Addy a smile when he heard of her beginning to feel comfortable. But House could care less, he watched Addison intently while eating his ruben. He didn't care what Chase had found out. He had his own motives for interrupting their lunch. Presently after watching her for a moment or so, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a large red nose and put it on his face, continuing to stare at Addy, waiting to catch her eye. Suddenly all conversation stopped and both Wilson and Chase were staring at House with raised eyebrows.

"House, what in the world..." Wilson began, and then watched as Addison turned towards him. There was a pregnant pause and suddenly it became clear to Wilson what was going on. he became increasingly interested. House's comments from the other night about Addison missing out on what was funny on the television. House was conducting his own experiment, how do we learn what's funny? Both Chase and Wilson now looked expectantly at Addison, but nothing happened. Addison quizzically looked at House, eyebrows furrowed, salad dressing on her face and reached out to touch the nose. It was just a finger, a careful touch and then she gripped it, pulling it off and eyeing it closer

"Damn it." House sighed and started again on his brownie. Chase smiled briefly feeling almost victorious for the first time that day and turned Addison's face in his hand, taking a napkin with the other began to wipe the salad dressing from her cheek. She ignored him and continued to investigate the nose, squeezing it and jumping slightly when it squeaked but not cracking a smile.

The tables around theirs were distracted also, but not by this girl with a lack of humor, but by the television screens peppering the walls. A photograph of Sandra Kennedy was plastered on the screen, with a hotline number scrolling along the bottom stating that if anyone knew anything about her to dial. The conversation at all tables was about her family and how scared they must be.


	20. Howard Verses House

**A/N: Wow! This is really the first time I've communicated with my readers! Hi guys and gals! I just wanted to say thank you for sticking with this story for as long as you have! Almost a year! Thanks so much for your reviews as well! They are so helpful and don't go to waste believe me! Also I wanted to mention that this story line is based on true events. I saw a documentary called: Genie: The Wild Child when I was in eighth grade and it haunted me. I believe it can be found on YouTube and should definitely be watched. Genie was younger when she was rescued from her horrible living, if you can call it that, situation, than Addison, but there will be more coming up in the story that deals with the fact that Addison is an adult and not a child. Once again, thank you for those who have continued to read this for nearly a year and welcome to the new comers, you are much appreciated! **

"Aaaaaaaannnnnnddddd... go!" He held a stop watch in his hand and flipped over the card and watched in amazement as her eyes flew over the design and in seconds was able to begin and finish reconstructing it. There was a beep and Chase stopped the stop watch.

"Thirty seconds, great job!" The doctors made no comments, yet scribbled wildly on their clipboards, murmuring with each other and shooting smiles of satisfaction at what they believed was a job well done. House leaned against the door frame shoveling in his lunch with one hand and equally as amazed, yet keeping his cool. Addison smiled excitedly, wanting another card, already knocking down the blocks to start again. She liked this game and grabbed Chases hand placing it on top of the stack of cards, telling him she wanted another one. House's eyebrows raised and his chewing slowed. She was beginning to communicate and tell the world what she wanted. Damn it, Chase was the one getting to be right there when it happened and he was stuck wiping noses and swabbing crotches, damn it.

Chase was taking notes on Addison's time and the difficulty of the design as Addy began to grow impatient. She shifted in her chair excitedly and raised and lifted Chase's hand quickly on the stack.

"Just a minute Addy, just a minute." Chase laughed, still scribbling. Addison looked at the stack longingly, wanting desperately to know what was on that top card. She watched Chase scribble and presently after not being able to contain herself she reached over and stole the pen right out of his hand, smiling. She was starting to be comfortable with Chase, so comfortable that she was acting on impulse around him. Damn it.

"Hey!" Chase tried to hide his excitement over this interaction, but in the end couldn't and a small smirk escaped his face, as he feigned anger with a raise of his eyebrow and tried to take his pen back only to be greeted by his other hand being raised and lowered on the stack of cards. What was going on here? Was she learning to bargain with him? When did that happen? Addison kept the pen hostage in her opposite hand and waited for Chase to turn over the card. Eventually he gave up and flipped the card over, sending the pen flying to the floor and the blocks in front of her scrambling to be stacked. House and Chase saw the importance of everything that had just happened, but it appeared that the doctors in the room were more interested in taking more notes about the stacking challenge in general.

"I'm seeing that she's having troubles with understanding priorities, Dr. Chase." Dr. Howard stood in front of the block table with his clipboard pressed against his chest, arms folded.

"I'm not sure I understand, Sir." Chase stood from his chair to retrieve his pen from the carpet.

"She needs to learn patience. You can't give into her so easily." Howard sat down in Chase's seat, setting his clipboard down and pushing in. Addison took in this new face for a moment, Howard hadn't interacted this close with her since the first time they met and it took her a moment to feel comfortable, but surprisingly it didn't take her long to begin to get excited about the card stack and assume that Howard would let her continue the game. House continued to lean on the door frame, eating his ruben and began to feel to uncomfortable with the fact that Addison was getting to be so trusting. In only a month of working with Chase in the hospital, she was beginning to let her guard down and overly trust people, never a good thing.

Howard began to address the crowd of white coats around him, as if lecturing an enormous class of students.

"It's important for us to remember that we are not only here to observe this patient and learn from her, but we are here to help her as well. We need to help Addison assimilate into the world around her by teaching her the basic skills that it takes to be human." Addison was completely ignoring the speech and was focusing on the stack of cards with an expectant smile on her face, looking at Howard and waiting for him to flip over the top card. She reached forward and took Howard's hand trying to indicated that she wanted him to flip the card, but he instantly took it away and set it down again. There was scribbling and muttering from the "peanut gallery" and Howard continued his "experiment". He took out the clipboard and pretended to ignore Addison, pretending to write. Addison shrunk back slightly and placed her hands in her lap for a moment, biting her lip worried, yet really wanting Howard to flip the card. House watched as Addison thought carefully about her next step, a thought came to her. Maybe this man wasn't allowed to touch the cards, maybe it was the other man only that could touch them. She turned to Chase who stood next to her and reached out, tugging on his labcoat.

"What is it Addy?" Chase feigned, knowing full well what she wanted but really hoping that she would try to communicate with him again, worried that this was not the time for what Howard was trying to do. Addison giggled and pointed towards the stack of cards under Howard's hand, but her smile faded when Chase ignored her, feeling a pit in his stomach as he did. Addy tried again, tugged on the labcoat, but this time the giggle was replaced by a questioning face. She whined slightly and tapped the cards, looking from Howard to Chase and then resigning herself to look at the floor. She stared at the cards. She wasn't allowed to touch them, she had a feeling. But she wanted to know what was on that top card more than anything in the whole world. She took a deep breath, bit her lip and allowed her hand to shoot out and grasp the corner of the top card. A split second later Howard gripped her hand harshly, pulling it from the card and making her yank it from his grip in fear.

"You see? She's already learning, patience, authority, all things that we learn when we're four." Howard smiled at the crowd of scribbling doctors and was feeling so victorious that he didn't even notice that House had moved from his perch on the door and had entered the room, not being able to take it anymore. He limped quickly to the block table and flipped over the top card, making Addison instantly smile and begin building the shape on it in record speed.

"Doctor House, I have told you that you were not to be involved in any aspect of this experiment!" Howard was on his feet inches from House's face, in fact House watched as beads of sweat began to collect on his forehead and his face redden.

"This experiment, yes, THIS experiment. That's what this is right, an experiment? That's not what I see, I see a glorified puppy obedience school." Addison finished the shape and tugged on House's jacket, making him instantly flip over the next card without even taking his eyes off of Howard.

"You're standing there telling me that we shouldn't be helping this poor soul. You're the one who's the ass, House. You look at her and see science and answers. I see an animal with the potential of being human, with the potential of being a valued member of society." Howard reached over and snatched the cards away from the table, including the card that Addison was working on.

"And what does that mean? A valued member? You want her to be just like us right? Just as petty as us, just as annoying as us, just as self deprecating, low self -esteem, pill popping," House stuffed a vicodin into his mouth.

"Leave Doctor House, or I'll have you removed." Howard stepped forward getting ready to press the emergency button on the wall. Addison could sense the tension and had stopped her pleading and was simply seated watching the two doctors.

"Lunch break's over anyway." House turned and began to limp towards the door. Addison stood quickly and ran to House, who knowing she was behind him, ignored her and walked out of the room. She began to follow him, but Chase rushed to grab her and pull her back in.


	21. The Omega Moves

The sirens were getting louder. Were they sirens? What were they? God, please. Her feet had gone numb. They were stumps. She clenched her jaw against the cold. Where were they? Where was her mother? All the movies she had seen, all of them, the mother had come or was it the father? Someone would burst through the door with the police, the next door neighbor, someone. But that was in movies, God was she really that person? Really one of those girls that believed everything that she saw on TV or read in the paper? What is that? What is that in the snow? Her trembling fingers inched their way down the icy concrete and touched the object in snow. What was that? Oh God! Oh God! Was that her bone? Was that her leg bone sticking out? Oh God! Oh God! Where were they? Where the hell were they?

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"Clinic House! Clinic! Not the lounge! Not your office! Clinic!" Cuddy was fuming. They were running out of chairs, people had taken to leaning against the wall grumbling, coughing, glancing at watches and on occasion swearing.

"Do you mind taking a step back? You're gleeking all over me." House stuck out his cane in protest as he tried to make it past Cuddy down the hallway. She shoved the rubber foot out of her way and stepped directly in front of him.

"You know what I heard?"

"That Wilson's favorite movie is Xanadu? It's true."

"I heard, that your patient's getting better. Cameron said that his oxygen levels are within normal for the first time this week and that he's actually sitting up and eating."

"I'll alert the press."

"Which means that until he has another emergency," she stopped, rethinking her words, "on his OWN accord, you're ass is mine."

The waiting room was more full than House had expected as he begrudgingly limped across the floor to the nearest exam room and whipped the patient file out of the sleeve in the door. He sighed and began to read over it as he shoved open the door.

"Oh...my...God!" The sound was coming from the exam table, it was nasally, it was snot filled and it was sitting in front of him. The man sitting in front of Dr. House wore a stripped shirt that looked like it hadn't been laundered in weeks, with yellowed pit stains underneath the arms. His hair was thick and greasy and shoved back onto his head like a helmet. He snatched a pen from his pants and clicked the top of it nervously, grabbing the notebook from behind him that House hadn't noticed.

"I can't believe, it's you! It's really you! I mean I thought I would come in and get some degenerate right out of med school, but you...Dr. Gregory House, this really is kismet!" The man was in his early thirties, yet as he sat there looking at House he began to look more and more like a ten year old on Christmas unwrapping a brand new shiney fire truck.

"You read my letter in Penthouse I take it?" House sat on the stool and began to sift through the chart again.

"I've read everything you've ever written. I mean, you're the reason I wanted to go to med school in the first place." The man suddenly looked down at his shoes, looking ashamed, "I didn't get into Princeton, stupid bastards think that you can measure the level of someone's intelligence by standardize testing... but I got into pre-med." House stared at the man for a minute, he was awkward at best. Why did all the people that worshipped him have to look like this? Why couldn't they have nice boobs and a curvy butt?

"Well... Dennis," House had found his name, "as side from being obsessive, what's wrong with you?" Dennis immediately broke into an obviously fake laugh, making House jump slightly.

"Oh my God! It's amazing! Absolutely amazing!" Dennis flipped open the notebook he had out and began to scribble madly on it. "You're just like everyone says you are! That's incredible."

"Yes, it is incredible when people are actually honest, you know what else is incredible? When a person answers questions like... what the hell is wrong with you?" House glared at Dennis from the folder who was silent for a moment, taken aback.

"Ummm... my back has been killing me lately. It starts down at the base and then radiates down my leg. I can't sleep because every time I try to turn over it pulls. It's starting to effect my work, you know? I'm a programmer, I'm sitting for most of my day and it's..."

"Okay... okay, I get it." House sighed knowing that Cuddy wouldn't let him out of this death trap unless all of this kid's paperwork was filled out. "Lay down." Dennis set his notebook down and stretched out on the exam table.

"Tell me when it hurts." House grabbed Dennis's right leg and began to lift it slowly.

"I think that you're a genius, I mean all of the papers written about you. All the journal articles, they all say that you don't care about the red tape, you just do what you want. You know who you're like, you're like Andy Kaufman! I mean he was ahead of his time, he didn't care about his audience, or if they liked him or not, he just walked out on that stage and wanted the audience to feel. That's like what you do, you want people to feel and I get that... I totally get that I... SON OF A BITCH!" Dennis jerked on the table as pain shot down his leg into his back.

"Sorry, just trying to get you to feel... and shut up." Dennis let out another fake laugh, that was weakly covering up the outward pain.

"God, you're incredible." Dennis slowly began to sit up, straining slightly.

"You have a bulging disc." House scribbled his diagnosis on the file as a headache began to form behind his eyes.

" Oh my God." Dennis's eyes got big.

"Relax, it's no big deal, get into some physical therapy, I'll give you the number of the therapist here."

"Damn it, I told Debbie that I wasn't supposed to bend that way." House stared at the floor for a minute hoping against hope that Dennis would realize that his inner monologue was being heard out loud.

"You know, Dr. House, I'm all for women being liberal and trying new things, but when it comes down to it there are just things the human body is not meant to do. You know what I'm saying? I mean, she checked this book out of the library and..."

"So, we're all set here, right?" House shot out, the headache was nearly getting to the point where he thought that his head was going to explode.

"Well, I was wondering if I could bring her in and if YOU told her..."

House could feel his skull begin to expand, preparing for the explosion. And just when he could swear that the flame had moved all the way down the wick to the bomb, the door to the exam room swung open and another person entered the room shutting the door behind her.

"Oh... my.... God!" Dennis's eyes were huge again as he took in the new person in the room. "It's the girl from the news paper! Debbie's going to go crazy when she hears this! She's not going to believe this! Can I get both of your autographs?" Dennis began to get out his notepad, with a hand shaking with excitement.

"No." House didn't even look at the annoyance behind him. "Damn, Addison, Cuddy give you clinic hours too? Guess no one's safe from her dictatorship." Addison stood in the corner, wearing hospital scrubs and biting her bottom lip. House watched her for a moment wondering. On the other side of the door he heard the sound of shoes on the tiles and the sound of Howard and Chase's voice.

"Damn it Dr. Chase! You could have just cost this hospital over a million dollars in funding." Howard whispered as they passed by the door.

"I was getting her ready to go in and she bolted. She's fast." Came an Australian accent. Suddenly it became clear to House was the situation was.

"MRI day huh, Addy?" He had heard Chase and Cuddy talking about it when Cuddy had arrived with Addison at the beginning of the week.

House cracked the door slowly and watched through a one inch space as Chase and Howard began to question the nurses. He quickly shut the door and looked around thinking as a smile crept across his face.

"Desmond..."

"Dennis." The man corrected.

"Yeah, yeah... I think," House flashed a quick glance at Addy and then began writing on Dennis's chart, "that we really can't be sure about that back of yours unless we get an MRI. Someone as youthful and full of sexual ambition as you doesn't want to be playing with half a spine, am I right?"

"Uh," Dennis was obviously caught off guards with all of the "celebrities" in his midst, "yeah, yeah, of course, but I don't have..."

"Oh, don't worry about the bill. The new management around here wants to make sure that everyone has access to good healthcare, maybe it's because the guy lived in Canada for a week. Just make sure you ask for Lisa Cuddy if you should receive a bill." Dennis began scribbling madly again in his notebook and gleaming with excitement. Was he really going to spend more time with this man? The experience was overwhelming. Addison, feeling safe in this room, without Dr. Howard or, at this point, Chase had begun to relax slightly and was beginning to investigate her surroundings. She padded over to window, barefoot, still chewing on her index finger and watched a couple smoking down below. House waited a moment, watching her and then strode to the door, yanking it open and shouting,

"Dr. Chase! Do you mind removing YOUR patient from MY exam room? There are actually people trying to get work done around here." Addison jumped and turned, face already panic stricken, she had been betrayed. In a matter of seconds, both Chase and Howard were in the door way both wearing relieved, yet frustrated looks on their faces.

"Addison," Chase breathed sternly, "come on we're going." He began to advance on her, on hand out stretched, the other in his pocket, fingers closed around a sedative. Dr. Howard was already sticking his head out of the door, asking for nurses assistance. Addy didn't move. She stood in front of the window, eyes fixed on Chase's, unblinking, she was staring him down.

"Addison," Chase's voice rose on the end, indicating he was being serious. "It won't be bad I promise." Addy's eyes didn't move. It was the first time both House and Chase had seen her like this. She was a wolf attempting to move from Omega. Her eyebrows were lowered and even though she bit her bottom lip nervously, her feet were planted and she wasn't going anywhere. It was her mother standing in front of her and as a tear rolled down her cheek she wouldn't let her mother win, not this time. Howard watched from the door, glancing at his watch and then impatiently back to Addison.

"Dr. Chase we are on a very strict time constraint, we have several other tests to conduct today after this one."

"And I need the MRI." House quipped, leaning on his cane, not taking his eyes from Addison.

"What?" Howard breathed.

"I need the MRI. I know this may seem like a shock to you Dr. Howard, but this hospital has other patients other than golden girl here." House broke his captivation of Addison only to say this and then went back to his "TV".

"Impossible Dr. House, we have it booked all day." Howard threw his hands on his hips after shoving his glasses harshly back up the bridge of his nose.

"My patient is in pain, it's annoying the crap out of him, much like HE is the rest of the world." There was a fake laugh from Dennis which made everyone jump.

"I'm sorry, it's going to have to wait." Dr. Howard addressed Dennis now. " A simple back pain, House? You don't need an MRI for that."

"A herinated disc in a twenty eight year old? Could be a tumor, or disc degeneration. How would I ever know without being able to utilize that very expensive, very important piece of machinery." Dennis licked his lips nervously.

"Could I really have all of those things?"

"Yes, you could." House swiveled on his heel. "You're spine's a ticking time bomb Donald."

"Dennis," both Howard and Dennis stated in unison.

"Ah, see? Even YOU, a cold heartless bastard, have started to invest interest in the time bomb." House quipped at Howard, who stood hands still on hips, beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow. Howard started hard at House, much like Addison stared at Chase and through gritted teeth finally breathed,

"After. You can have the MRI at two o'clock."

"Great! See how nice compromise is?" House turned back to the stand off by the window.

"Come on Addison, let's go." Howard yelled from the door. The sudden new sound caught Addison's eye and in that brief moment, Chase lashed out, gripping Addison's wrist. Addison instantly went into panic mode and pulled. She pulled so hard she was on the floor.

"Shhhh, you're okay. It's going to be okay." Chase gripped the sedative in his pocket tighter and lifted his hand out. Addison knew the way that felt. She had been stabbed before by the clear cylinder and the moment it emerged from Chase's pocket her foot shot out and kicked him hard in the wrist, causing the syringe to fly across the room.

"Addison, it's okay." Chase breathed, amazed and frustrated at the same time.

"We need some nurses in here now!" Howard yelled out the door and rushed forward, reaching down and hauling Addison from the floor. "Come on let's go." He muttered and holding Addy tightly around the waist began to drag her towards the door. Tears were streaking down Addison's face and she threw herself back and forth against Howard's grip, screaming at the top of her lungs. It was then, during the midst of all of the screaming and rushing around that Addison moved from Omega. It didn't come from staring Howard down, or from biting him. It didn't come from breaking free and bolting again. It came in the form of Addison's heel having a chance meeting with Howard's crotch. It was full force. House watched from the other side of the room, almost as if in slow motion. Addison's knee bent, her leg flew up and her foot came down with it. Howard buckled, his eyes bulged and House wondered if he even saw a small bit of mist fill Howard's left eye. Every man in the room gritted his teeth in almost solidarity, even House himself sensed mild sympathy pains. Howard released Addison, collapsing to the floor and nearly rolling into a ball right there in the middle of the exam room.

"What is going on in here?" Cuddy filled in the doorway, hand on forehead looking utterly confused. Addison bolted from the room into Cuddy's arms. "She's shaking." Cuddy held the girl tightly to her, hoping to make her feel safe. But then House broke the illusion as he casually limped forward and, pulling the right side of Addison's scrubs down, stabbed a sedative into her cheek. Everything went blurry. She had lost.


	22. Lost And Found

**A/N Hey guys! Wow 22 chapters! Now looking at this story I really think that it should have been broken into two parts, but thanks again for sticking with it! I'm out of school now so there will be more chapters coming and quicker.**

Her eyes slowly opened and she found that she couldn't move her arms. She couldn't move her arms! Where was she? There were faces around her. Some she knew, some she didn't. She couldn't move her arms and legs!

"You're okay Addy. It's going to be okay." The man with the blond hair and funny voice half smiled at her as she tugged against the restraints. The man with the cane leaned against the wall casually watching the entire ordeal.

"Doctor House! What are you doing here?" The man in the glasses and whitecoat rushed forward pressing buttons on the huge machine behind her. What was happening? The mouth of the machine was wide, it looked like a face about to swallow her whole.

"My patient needs to use this machine and I want to make sure that he gets it as soon as possible." The man with the cane answered back, not moving from his place on the wall.

"And I said you would get it at two o'clock." The man with the glasses shot back. Addison strained against the straps once more hoping that there would be the sound of velcro giving way. But it never happened.

"What about as soon as possible are you not familiar with?" The man with the cane quipped.

"What about…" Suddenly another person entered the room, a woman, someone Addy didn't know. The woman was dressed in pink scrubs and walked up to the man in the glasses quickly, wringing her hands.

"They're bringing Sandra Kennedy in Dr. Howard." Howard stopped his button pressing and sighed. "The police are going to want a statement from you." The nurse continued. Howard stood for a moment, arms crossed, looking down at the floor, thinking. He shot Addison a quick glance and then stared at Chase, who straightened up.

"Dr. Chase, I assume that you will act in a professional manner and conduct this experiment to its fullest. I want everything documented, do you understand me? Everything." Howard waited for the response.

"Yes, Sir." There was a scoff from the man leaning against the wall, who received two glares from the other doctors in the room. Howard lingered on House for an extra minute before turning and following the nurse from the room.

"Right, party time, I'll go get the cage dancers, you cashed your pay check in singles didn't you Dr. Chase?" House stepped away from the wall and limped up to the side of the MRI table.

"House." Chase sighed, finishing the calibrating that Howard had begun.

"It's okay, I'll spot you. Dr. butt wipe's probably not paying you that much for all this high quality patient care you're giving her." House looked down at Addison, leaning on his cane. Addison made eye contact with the unshaven man and remembered how he had been the one to bring her outside for the first time and show her all of the amazing things outside of the hospital. She moved slightly in the restraints hoping that he would understand. His eyes lingered on hers for a while and then she felt a hand in hers. The blond man was turned still calibrating the machine. She felt a hand in hers and felt the hand give a slight squeeze. A small smile crept across House's face and then disappeared as did his hand from Addison's as Chase turned back around. She wasn't going to be let out of the restraints, the idea flooded her mind and she could feel her heart begin to pound, but for some reason, she began to think that the monster behind her might not hurt her.

"I have it! I have it!" The doors to the observation room swung open and Cuddy rushed into the room carrying a cd in her hand. She pressed the microphone button in front of her and suddenly her voice was amplified through the room. "I have it!"

"What? What does she have?" House's interest was perked. What could Cuddy possibly bring to this situation.

"A week ago we tried to introduce music to Addy." Chase began as he finished with the machine and then turned to Addison.

"Please don't tell me that's a Boy's to Men CD in Cuddy's hand." House sighed.

"We had a stack of cds, we showed her the cases and then played it. Turns out that Addison has a very distinct taste in music, no opera, likes rock and roll, but loves…" The room was filled with music, a driving beat echoed off the walls, it was a song that House had on his iPod.

"Moby." House said out loud and looked down at Addison, who's eyes were now staring at the ceiling, a small smile touching the corner of her mouth. The beats of "Natural Blues" bounced around the room and flooded Addison's mind. She had never heard anything like it. Both House and Chase watched as the tightness of the restraints began to slack slightly. Cuddy entered the room, rushing up to the side of the table.

"Hey Addy," She said trying to sound cheery, "everything's going to be okay. This won't take long." Addison watched Cuddy standing over her, eyebrows farrowed with worry, every so often looking back into the MRI.

"She's lying to you Addison," Addy's attention was drawn back to House on the other side of the table, "this is going to be painful, loud and take hours." Cuddy reached across the table and smacked him harshly across the arm.

"House!" She snapped, looking back down at Addy and stroking back her hair.

"Relax, she can't understand me, which means all this drivel is useless. This on the other hand…" With Addison's gaze on him again, he faked a surprised face and threw himself to the floor. Chase raised an eyebrow and Cuddy rolled her eyes.

"Anything?" House breathed, painfully getting himself up from the floor with his cane. Chase looked down at Addy and then back up to House.

"Nope." Chase smiled at House as he watched him limp forward to get a look for himself. As Chase had said, Addison lay on the table questioningly looking up at the doctor and blinking. House sighed and then without warning stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes. Cuddy's hand instantly shot to cover her mouth as she watched Addison's face grow more interested but not even a crack of a smile cross her mouth.

"Damn, this kid's a tough crowd." House sighed again, leaning on his cane.

"Maybe she doesn't suffer fools well." Cuddy quipped as Chase pressed the button on the side of the MRI to send the table into the machine. House gave out a fake laugh, which made Cuddy smirk.

The monster had swallowed her, but she felt no pain. The walls of the mouth surrounded her and although her head was strapped to the table she allowed her eyes to wonder around in her new quarters. There was a screen in front of her that began to show pictures of things, dogs, bowls, candles. She looked each picture over carefully and listened to the sounds of Moby wafting over the loud booms and bangs encircling her, making her clench her fists with worry.

Doctor Howard pushed his way through the crowd, there were scrubs and surgical gloves everywhere.

"Excuse me! Excuse me please." Howard shoved another EMT out of the way and was finally able to see the gurney in the corner that held the half dead body of Sandra Kennedy. She was mangled, both eyes were swollen shut and her arm and leg were both in splints. A neck brace took over much of her face and her hair, that hung over the pillow, was saturated with blood. There were four nurses struggling with IVs and tubes as a police officer with a pad hung over her shouting questions.

"Can you describe him Sandy? What did he look like?" Suddenly the heart monitor began to erupt in the midst of the chaos.

"She's crashing!" Within seconds the police officer was shoved from the curtained room and Sandra Kennedy's body began to rise and fall from the bed as she was paddled. Howard stood in the middle of the room and for the first time that day his mind was empty. He had seen rape victims come through the ER before, most were more emotionally wounded than physically, but this girl, this girl was different, she had seen the inside of hell and somehow was able to escape… that wasn't the word. Escape wasn't the word for what was going on behind those curtains. Howard stood in the middle of the room and knew that it might be better for Sandra if the paddles didn't work, it would be better for Sandra to never open her eyes again and have to face the world, it would be better if she never woke up.

The table came out slowly from the MRI and Addison took in the face of the blond doctor who was smiling at her.

"There, see? All done." He began to unfasten the restraints holding Addison in place, feeling her pushing on the other side. "You're okay," he watched as Addison was beginning to feel frantic, "you're okay. Shhhh." The final restraint came off of Addy's wrists and she scrambled full bore from the table and into Cuddy's arms.

"She's soaking wet." Cuddy felt the sweat on the scrubs Addison was wearing from the fear of the MRI and a pang struck her heart. Just then a beeper went off on Cuddy's hip making everyone jump slightly. She held Addison to her with one arm and lifted the pager to her face with the other hand. "Damn."

"What is it?"

"Sandra Kennedy is dead. They need me down in the ER." She knew that she would have to go down there. She heard the news as she was grabbing the Moby CD from her office. She didn't want to have to face those cameras again, have to take questions from reporters and more importantly, from Sandra Kennedy's parents. She glanced at her watch, of course, perfect timing.

"It's one o'clock."

"Ha!" House yelped, "I own your ass." He lifted his eyebrows at Chase and smirked.

"Yes, I know." Chase sighed finishing taking notes on the charts from the MRI.

"I can't take Addison." Cuddy was getting used to having Addy in her office for the remainder of the day. She had box of activities and shape cards to keep her occupied and the nursing staff had begun to smile when they entered her office, something that had never happened before Addy has begun to take residency there. Addison was searching the observation room while still clinging to Cuddy's side, this was time that could be spent exploring.

"I suppose I could get Betty to watch her." Cuddy sighed glancing at her watch and thinking about where the nurse might be at that moment.

"We can take her." House shot out not taking his eyes from Addy, it almost looked to Cuddy that he was a five year old boy looking at a new video game in a store window.

"You have a case." She snapped back. "And Howard doesn't want you anywhere near her."

"The guy's doing fine, probably have that nasty case of…" House had lost the ability to think for a moment. "Chase what does he have?"

'We don't know." Chase sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"See? We don't know… he could be faking."

"A heart attack?"

"He could have a paid off the nurses to fake those paddles, how little are you paying them right now?" Cuddy raised an eyebrow and then glanced over at Chase.

"Give her to me. For all Howard would know I'm still conducting tests." Cuddy's eyes drifted to the floor thinking as she mindlessly rubbed Addison's back.

"Dr. Cuddy?" A nurse was leaning into the room with a frantic look on her face causing Cuddy to break out of her trance. She needed to make a decision.

"Okay, fine."

"Yesssssss!" House put his hand up to slap Chase a high five, Chase ignored him.

"If Howard catches wind of this…" Cuddy began.

"God, Cuddy relax, you don't want to look all frazzled for the cameras." House reminded her and took Addison's hand and placed it into Chase's.

"Please don't screw this up." Cuddy's last words were issued to Chase who nodded in agreement and watched her walk quickly from the room. Addison took a few steps to follow her and when Chase's hand stopped her she glanced towards him questioningly. She always went with the long haired woman when she would arrive. She looked forward to the quiet of her office and the box that was beginning to feel like a security blanket, the objects inside, although not as challenging as they were before, were still captivating.

"Well let's not stand here all day there's a guy dying of…something." House began towards the door, with the trail of Addison and Chase following him.

"This stuff sucks." House pulled what looked like a metal tavern puzzle out of the box Cuddy had made, which now sat on the conference room floor next to where Addison was sitting. Addy sat in the floor next to the box, House on a chair at the head of the table as his team sat around looking from the white board, which was full to their boss.

"He's complaining of blurred vision now." Cameron sighed, head on hand gazing intently at the white board as if hoping to see the answer come springing out of it.

"Anyone ask if he wears contact lenses?" House began trying to solve the tavern puzzle, Addison watching intently, mouth slightly open, a small smile appearing as she became more captivated.

"There's nothing on his history House, usually the first thing we check, remember?" Foreman was standing at the white board holding the marker ready, hoping to cross something off or add something to the lengthening list.

"Well, then if you know his history so well Dr. Foreman, what does it say under eye color?" There was a clink and House, who thought he had solved the puzzle found he was not a bit closer.

"Green." Chase interrupted.

"Why Foreman, what pale skin you have." He glanced quickly at Chase and then back to the puzzle, "Check it again." Cameron reached across the table, pulling the folder over to her and opening it.

"It says brown."

"Wow, no way, I've seen quick changes, but eyeballs? Now THAT is magic! Damn it!" There was another clink and the puzzle held fast again. Addison reached out and touched the puzzle, looking House in the eye and then looking back down at the pieces of intertwined metal. He handed it to her and then set his face in his hand watching her and waiting for his team to come around.

"Coloration contacts?" Cameron suggested.

"The guy's an actor, right? My guess is either the part calls for green eyes or the wife does." House was captivated as he watched Addison begin to solve the puzzle.

"The chemical spill could have caused the lenses to melt."

"Which means it's not a symptom and Foreman is denied." House smiled in satisfaction at Foreman and suddenly there was a tugging on his pant leg. House looked to the floor and saw Addy holding the two separated pieces.

"Smart ass." House quipped taking the pieces and examining them in hidden amazement. Addison instantly became interested with something else in the box, another tavern puzzle. House watched as, within minutes, Addison solved the puzzle and then put it back together. "I think it's time for an upgrade." House slide out his chair, Addison watching him from the floor and then reaching back into the box for something else.

"House… the patient?" Cameron yelled after him as he disappeared into his office.

"Where's the theater this guy's "show" is at?" Came a voice from inside the next room.

"On West 3rd.' Chase yelled.

"The upper part?" House emerged from the office holding his PSP in his hand.

"No the lower part, why House looking for some place to take a date?" Foreman capped the marker bitterly.

"That's funny," House stated blankly, "you guys watch the news?"

"YOU watch the news?" Chase laughed.

"Does the Naked News count?" House shot back painfully lowering himself down to the floor. "That whole street's being renovated, they started with the upper half and they're working their way down. Shakespeare's been rehearsing right in the middle of a giant petri dish of mold, bacteria and possibly asbestos. You kids need to read something other than MAD magazine. Chase, go to West 3rd, take a kit with you."

"Nope." Chase sat back in his chair. "It's my name on Addy's sign out log."

"Nope, SIR." House corrected, "it's supposed to be 'Nope, SIR." There was a pause. "Foreman, you go. I'd send Cameron but all of those rough around the edges construction workers, sweating and showing off their muscles… we may never get her back." Cameron raised her eyebrow and sighed. Foreman didn't move. "You wanna' add something to that board? Get the kit." This time House was firm and his eyes were locked onto Foreman's, who eventually sighed and slammed the marker back into the white board tray and stormed out of the room, "He's so moody." House sat next to Addison on the floor as she played with a new puzzle, she slid tiles around a square, trying to put a dog face back together. Cameron and Chase moved to the end of the table, intrigued.

House reached over and slowly took the tile puzzle from Addy, who watched as it disappeared back into the box. She felt as something was placed into her hands and heard a noise coming from it. She looked down to find a small black rectangle that was lit up in her fingers. It was amazing. There were shapes moving around on it and a huge smile filled up her face which filtered it's way around the table, even House smiled slightly.

"What is that Addy?" Suddenly Cameron was drawn to the floor as well and Chase swiveled his chair around to watch closer. Addy smiled at everyone, ending on House, who tried to hide his own smile, then getting serious, he put his hands over Addison's on the controls and hit play. Addison's eyes were instantly drawn back to the screen and her eyebrows raised in interest. There was a man in the middle of a road with a big tube in his hand.

"Okay, this is jump." House made Addison press the button, showing the man on the video game jump into the air. "This is run." House pressed Addison's other finger down and Cameron and Chase watched as Addy began to realize that she was the one making the character move. "And this one is shoot." House moved Addison's thumb and pressed down. Suddenly the sound of shots came out of the speakers. Addison jumped slightly and then giggled looking over at House. "Cool, huh?"

"What the hell did you give her to play?" Chase stood from his chair and moved around House to look over his shoulder and his eyes grew huge when he saw the screen. "Grand Theft Auto?"

"What? What's wrong with it? It's rated M for mature, she's within the age limit." Chase sighed and began to walk over to take it from Addy. "Ah, ah, ah." House swung his cane in front of Chase stopping him. "Look." Chase stopped and looked down at Addison. House's hands were off the PSP and Addy sat by herself, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She was making the man walk down the street and then run, laughing when he would speed up, finding it amazing that she could control him. The three sat for a minute watching Addison become more and more captivated by the game when something distracted them.

"Dr. House! I brought Debbie in to see you!" The nasally voice from door frame made those in the room jump and then look over to find the source, except for Addison. She was in a bubble on her own with the game. When House stood, leaning on his cane he saw the source. Dennis stood in the conference room with a huge smile on his face and a woman who looked much older than him standing beside him. She stood with a glazed look wearing a Tweety bird t-shirt with the words, 'I twaught I was with stupid' scrawled in cracking ink on the front. House looked at the two in front of him, and as Chase's hand shot up to his mouth to cover his smile, all House could think was,

"And the day was going so well."


	23. Take Off

She looked down at her cellphone for the third time that hour. No messages. None. Damnit, what was keeping him from calling her back? Her mind flew to all the moments and comments that had passed during their date the previous night. What had she said wrong? What had she had to eat? Lobster. Great, now he thinks my taste is expensive! She sighed and continued to stride down the sidewalk. It was clouding up around her, much like her mood and she begged that the rain would hold off until she got back to her apartment. She shifted her groceries once more on her hip causing the bananas that had been teetering on the top to tumble onto the concrete.

"Damn it." She slipped her cellphone into her pocket and shakingly reached down to snatch them up. Just then there was the sound of brakes on tires and an automatic window.

"Oops, need some help there Cookie." She looked up and saw his face. The car door flew open, slamming harshly against her temple. The bananas flew into the grass and all was quiet.

***

"Oh God this is a nightmare." House mumbled as he stared at the white board. The sounds of Addison playing with the PSP and Debbie droning on were the only sounds heard in the room.

"No one thought it was going to work. No one. But I heard on Oprah that a woman's sexual peak happens later than a man's. Dennis wouldn't really have been my first choice, but he's fine. You should have seen my husband, now HE was a real catch. A REAL man." Debbie leaned back in the chair at the conference table, grimacing at Dennis, who was in his own world staring at the white board with a furrowed brow.

"What happened? Oh wait, let me guess, his peak was in someone else's pants."

Debbie's eyes shot up coldly to House and her thin lips became invisible in the folds of her face.

"What the hell do YOU know about it?" Debbie spat at him, her face reddening.

Dennis spun on his heel, rounding on Debbie.

"Debbie! Don't talk to Dr. House like that! He's a genius!" Cameron's eye brows shot up in shock.

"Is he? Well, he sure doesn't act like it! Neil Diamond! Now there's a genius. He doesn't go around all scruffy and filthy like you. He knows how to treat a woman. Any man who could right a song like "Forever in Blue Jeans" is a genius!"

"Debbie!" Dennis snapped.

"Oh shut up! If you love him so much why don't you take him home and…" It was at this moment that a sound other than the PSP was heard from the corner of the table. Debbie jumped slightly in her chair. She had been sitting at the table the entire time without even noticing the person seated on the floor next at the head of the table.

"Who's that?" Debbie hefted herself from the table and made her way around the corner. Addison stared curiously at the screen of the PSP. Why couldn't she move the man anymore? Why was there a big block on the front of the screen that she couldn't see past? She clicked the buttons mindlessly, hoping that something would work. Suddenly there was a new face in front of her, close to her, studying her. Addy's mouth opened slightly and her eyes became big as she also studied the face in front of her. Maybe this person could fix the man in the box so that he could run again. She held out the box with and looked down at it and then back up.

"I don't want that." Debbie gruffly replied and then her eyes got large as well. "I know you! You were in the news paper." Addy continued to hold out the PSP hopefully.

"Nope." House limped up to Addison, blocking the space in between her and Debbie and taking the PSP from her, restarting the game and handing it back, instantly captivating Addy and emerging her in her bubble. "That girl got transferred to another hospital. She's not here anymore."

"No, that's definitely her." Debbie stood her ground with her hands firmly on her hips, thin lips disappearing again.

"Don't you have a cab to catch?" House didn't move.

"We do Debbie, we do have a cab to catch." Dennis rushed to his girlfriend's side knowing that any minute there were going to be punched thrown and they weren't going to be from House. "We just thought we would stop in before heading out."

"Well, we're all so glad that you did." House quipped glaring laser eyes at Debbie.

"Dennis I can leave on my own! Stop pulling me!" Debbie snapped whipping her arm away from her boyfriend's and trying to crane around House's waist to get a better look at the girl behind him.

"It IS the girl from the newspaper, the crazy one, the wild child! They were talking about her on Montel last week!" Debbie stood firmly in front of House. "I want a picture with her."

"Do you have a thousand dollars with you?" House asked blankly.

"No."

"Well, then I guess you can't, can you?" House leaned on his cane strongly with one eyebrow raised.

"How DARE you talk to me like that!" At this Foreman and Chase stood, followed by Cameron, who rushed to the phone to call security. Debbie's face was beat red at this point and it seemed like her eye was beginning to twitch with anger, never a good sign.

"Come on Debbie, let's go." Dennis watched as Chase and Foreman began to get closer to the two of them, knowing full well they were about to be ejected from the room. "Debbie… please."

Debbie gave House one last fiery glance before turning on her heel and huffing out of the room, past Dennis, who gave the room a sheepish grin and ran after her.

"Freak." House muttered and turned back toward the whiteboard. It was silent in the room for a moment as everyone's minds processed what had just happened.

"That's going to start happening more and more now." Foreman was solemn as he sat down at the table once more, looking down at Addison who had stopped focusing on the PSP and was watching the hallway where Dennis and Debbie had just left, a puzzled look on her face. "Addy's been all over the news since she got here."

"Well, maybe we'll be lucky and Cuddy will quit to be her agent." House turned and looked at Addy, but then his eyes caught something else coming towards them. Cuddy was clicking quickly down the hallway, with a frantic look on her face.

"Speak of the devil and she appears." House turned from the door and back to his white board.

"I need you all in the clinic now." Cuddy placed her hands on her hips and stood in the doorway looking exasperated.

"Little busy right now, Doctor Cuddy." House didn't look away from the board, maybe if he ignored her she would go away.

"The guy's stable and we have two tour bus loads of people with food poisoning that we need to cycle out of here. I need all hands on deck for this."

"So, you want us to leave this poor dying man…"

"He's stable." Cuddy cut in.

"To go down the hall and get puked on for no apparent reason except for the fact that you can't hire and keep enough help around this place." House spun on his heel and glared at the woman who was stone faced.

"Doctor Cuddy, we need you in the clinic now." A nurse, looking frantic rushed to the doorway and stood waiting, sweat beading on her forehead.

"Okay, I need you guys now and I'm still dean of medicine so…"

There was a cloud of sighs and grumbling, including Chase complaining that he had worn his new sneakers.

"And what are you going to do with Spot here? Give her a stack of emisis basins and shove her at the sickos like you're doing with the rest of us?" Cuddy focused her attention on Addy, who sat on the floor watching out the window despondently.

"I can take her with me. She can sit in my office for a while on her own. Addy come on, let's go." Addison was suddenly snapped out of her trance and stood, making her way to Cuddy.

"Better put down some newspaper."

The clinic was just as Cuddy described, a zoo. There were dozens of bundled tourists, all with cameras around their necks and all with cardboard emisis basins with in reach. A few were even taking pictures of their surroundings in between throwing up. House's jaw grew even more ridged as the tour guide he was treating threw up, almost missing the basin in his lap.

"I can't believe this. We've used that caterer for years. It's always been part of the package. You get a four star brunch and then the tour, I can't believe it. We're going to loose a ton of money on this."

"Not to mention all the possible law suits." House quipped as he scribbled down the same notes that he had been writing on everyone's charts. The day was getting away from him. There were still four hours left on the clock and he couldn't believe THIS is how he would be spending them.

"Here, Addison, come here." House turned and watched as Cuddy tried to wrangle Addison into her office. It wasn't going well with all of the chaos going on around her. There were all kinds of new shiny machines that had been wheeled into the hallway to aid in diagnosing people quickly and getting them out of the clinic. Addison was captivated by the beeping of a heart monitor, so much that Cuddy had to walk up with a small smile and take her hand, gently pulling her towards the office door.

"Doctor Cuddy, what is this mess?" The voice came from the center of the confusion and instantly made Cuddy's heart freeze.

"We're dealing with it Doctor Howard." She sighed, continuing to "guide" Addison.

"Is that what you call this?" Howard slid past an elderly man in a fake fur hat, puking his lungs out into a trash can.

"Can I help you?" Addison was now hugged next to Cuddy, trying desperately to avoid any dealings with Howard.

"Nope, I just need Addison. There are some reporters over there that want to know about her progress, what better way than to show them first hand." Howard's hand whipped from his side and snapped onto Addy's wrist, causing her to recoil. From where House stood it almost looked like Cuddy and Howard were playing a game of tug of war with Addy and it peaked his interest to see who would win the stand off.

"Here give this to that nurse over there." He handed the patient he was working on a yellow slip and limped across the hallway, excited at seeing what was sure to be the best cage match in history.

"Are you sure that we should be doing that Sir?" Cuddy began.

"Why would there be anything wrong with it, Doctor Cuddy? I would think that you would see that the hospital could do with a little positive PR. After Sandra Kennedy and the Pro-Life protests…" Howard glared down at Cuddy through his glasses like an angry parent does to a misbehaving child.

"I'm not going to have her paraded around in front of the world like some sort of …"

"No, you're not. Which is why as of right now, you are merely Addison's transportation to the hospital and the place where she sleeps at night. During the day, she will be under the care of my team and I. You touch her at any point during work hours and I will make sure that your name goes directly to the top of the list of people that are expendable at this hospital. You get fired, Doctor Cuddy and Addison will be placed under the care of one of the other doctors willing to take care of her." Cuddy stood in the middle of the may lay, mouth open as if to say something but no words came. She was stunned to her core and though she tried her hardest her brain had stopped to function. Howard jerked Addison quickly and Cuddy's hand opened. She tried to make it close but the shock was still coursing through her body.

"Come on Addison, we've got an interview." Howard sounded instantly perky as he pulled Addison through the crowd. Cuddy watched them disappear.

"That didn't take long. What was it? A month? Howard has completely taken over and made you the only living human invertebrate in the process."

"Shut up." Cuddy whispered, still looking in the path that Howard and Addison had just taken.

"Telling me to shut up doesn't prove there's still backbone in there, it just…"

"House! Shut up!" Cuddy's voice was loud and short and it made several of the nurses and patients in the hallway turn her way. House was taken aback, she hadn't bitten like this at him in a long time and it surprised him. Finally her eyes moved from hallway and she swiveled on her heel and clicked her way loudly into the closest exam room. For about two full minutes House stood in the hall, staring at the floor, thinking. It was only after he felt dozens of eyes on him that he looked around himself and then began to head back to his office.

"Addison, stop it. Stop." Howard tugged harder on Addison's arm making her lurch forward and stop her from resisting for a moment. "Help me for a moment." Howard said to the other doctor from his team that had joined him. The doctor held onto Addison tightly around the arms while Howard turned towards her and tried to flatten her hair with his hand. She winced and whined, wanting more than anything to be left alone. But after a few moments of struggle, Howard realized that her hair was too short to do anything about and it was just going to stick up straight on top no matter what he did.

"I guess there's no way to tame the beast, huh? But don't tell them that." Howard laughed and got a small laugh from the doctor with him.

He thought for a moment about pulling the hood of her hoodie up over it, but thought that it might make her look like a thug.

"Doctor Howard?" The reporters around the corner were growing impatient. "Keep her here." The doctor nodded and tightened his grip of Addison's wrist.

"Coming." Howard shot back. He combed his hair with his fingers quickly and stepped around the corner. The moment he was around the wall, there was the sound of dozens of cameras turning on and microphones being poised. "Good afternoon," Howard feigned being cherry and stepped in front of the reporters.

"A month ago, this hospital was given an amazing gift…" Howard was off and running and the doctor hold back Addison could hear the reporters chuckling at some of Howard's jokes. Addison looked up to the doctor who was holding her captive. He was captivated by the reporters and adjusting his labcoat and his shirt. She looked back at the reporters and furrowed her brow and looked behind her back down the hallway. She could see out into the parking lot through the glass door and saw a large red double decker bus, with people climbing into it carrying emisis basins. Suddenly she felt something, the tightness around her wrist had ceased. She looked over to the doctor and saw that he was brushing lint from his shoulder. She saw this as her chance and turned quickly in place. The converse sneakers that House had bought for her gripping into the linoleum, propelling her back down the hallway as fast her legs could carry her.

"And now without further adieu…" Howard was stated with a smile to the reporters and stepped around the corner. Yet he stood flabbergasted when he saw the doctor still picking lint from his shoulder… alone.

"Doctor Metz! Where is Addison?" Doctor Metz's eyes got huge as he brought his empty hand to his face and stared back bewildered at a red faced Doctor Howard.

Outside, the tour guide stood outside the tour bus trying to keep a smile on his face as he felt his stomach lurch again.

"I'm so sorry about this. Money will be refunded as soon as we get back to the office, I promise."

"It better be." An elderly woman snapped as she stepped carefully on the first step of the bus and took the hand of her waiting husband.

"I promise it will be ma'am." The guide grinned and watched the last of the people climb onto the bus, including one with very short fly away hair wearing a Princeton sweatshirt, jeans and black Converse sneakers. He checked around the vehicle to make sure that there was no one else and climbed on himself.

"Okay, we're all set." He told the driver and with that the doors of the bus closed and the bus pulled out of the parking lot of Princeton, Plainsboro.


	24. The Open Road And False Accusations

"I want you to call the police station now! Give them her description! Goddamn it!" Howard paced the room, hands on hips, then hands on neck, then hands across face. "Dr. Metz is off this case, I want all of his files and information in my office, on my desk."

"I want Dr. Howard, or as I like to call him 'The idiot', off this case and his balls on my desk." House looked around the room and saw blank faces from all involved. "Oh, I'm sorry I thought this was the right time for all of us to be making demands."

"House!" Cuddy snapped, still on hold with police station.

"The building has been completely searched and the parking lot, nothing." Wilson shut the door to Cuddy's office behind him, surprised by the number of people packed into the small space.

"How many times is this now? Let's see, one, two, three…" House looked up at the ceiling as he counted off on his fingers. "Well, fourth times a charm, right? I'm guessing she's pretty much gone. Where does that leave you Dr. Howard? By my calculations at least 100,000 dollars in debt?"

"If I recall Dr. House, Addison's first and most dangerous escape was under your watch, wasn't it?" Howard squared off in front of House, nearly shaking from anger.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, I would say that completely leaving the building and wandering around God knows where in New Jersey and let me repeat, NEW JERSEY, is a tad bit more dangerous than having her trapped in the building, am I right Dr. Cuddy or are we still trying to kiss this moron's ass?"

Cuddy's index finger flew up as a police officer answered the phone, trying desperately to silence all the drama going on around her.

"Hello, yes, this is Lisa Cuddy at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, I need to report a missing patient."

* * *

Her heart was leaping in her chest and a smile spread widely across her face as she looked out the window of the bus watching the world go by. She couldn't believe that she was sitting alone in a seat, with no one holding onto her, no one holding her back from doing what she wanted, what SHE wanted. She looked at the others around her expecting to see the same joy she felt on their faces. She was met with only pale miserable, looking people. She looked back out the window, the view was a lot better out the window. The bus bumped along the road and all Addy could hear was the sound of the radio and the snow against the tires. The snow was falling in thick flakes and Addison marveled at the fact that they would crash against the window and just vanish. Why did they do that? Why wouldn't they stay so that she could get a closer look at them?

Just then the bus made a wide turn and everyone, it seemed, let out a giant sigh of relief. They were in a parking lot filled with cars that held at least an inch of snow on their tops. The man that had let Addison in stepped into the middle of the rows of seats, a stressed but slightly relieved look on his face.

"Once again, I want to apologize for the... um... bumps we had in the road today." The man tried desperately to laugh at his own joke as no one else was going to. "We will be giving you a full refund of your money."

"I should say so." A ashen woman across from Addison muttered to her similar faced husband who nodded his approval.

The bus came to a full stop and the doors ground open. And, like a dam breaking, the isle instantly filled with people, practically sprinting to get outside and to their cars. Addison looked out the window and three women stood in coats handing cash back to the each person who left.

"All set ma'am?" Addison jumped at the sound of the man from the isle standing next to her with a forced smile bridging his face. Addy blinked for a moment and then stood, walking down the isle and down the steps.

"We're so sorry for the inconvenience." A bubbly woman forced a wad of cash into Addy's hand and waited for her to walk away.

"That's the last one." The tour guide muttered to the woman running his hand through his greasy hair.

"Ned is freakin'," the blonde whispered back,"what the hell happened?" Addison stood in the lot and watched as the tour guide and the three women walked toward the bus garage deep in conversation. There was a chorus of slamming car doors around her and the grumbling of tour bus patrons as they began to drive out of the lot, some rolling down their windows as nausea hit them all over again. Soon Addison was alone in the lot, except for the few cars that belonged to the employees. She turned towards the open city behind her as the snow fell. She blinked down at the cash in her hand and wondered what it was for. She had seen the man with the stick and the man with the strange voice use it in the huge room with all of the people and been given things, just because they had it, things that tasted good. She shoved the money in her pocket and stepped onto the sidewalk. A wide grin spread across her face and although she was starting to shiver, she couldn't feel anymore excited.

* * * *

"I can't just sit here and wait for the phone to ring. I can't." Cuddy was pacing her office. House was sure the carpet wasn't going to be able to with stand the day.

"What about a game of strip poker while we wait for the phone to ring? At least that way we can get some money out of this and dispel some nasty rumors. I mean I for one would love to find out if Wilson's "naughty" birthmark really looks like the statue of liberty."

"Someone has to stay here. The Dean of Medicine needs to stay here." Howard stated glaring at Cuddy over his glasses.

"Wait, we're still listening to this guy? Did I not get a memo or something?" House rested his cane on the floor and rose, squaring off at Howard.

"House, you are not needed or wanted here." Howard wasn't going to back down.

"Yes, he is." House turned, shocked at Cuddy's response. "Addison is missing. Everyone is needed." Cuddy was facing the window looking out as the snow fell outside, such a beautiful scene, so opposite the tension and stress in the room at that moment.

"I need to drive. I need to drive and try to find her or I'm going to go crazy." Cuddy sighed and turned towards the group while grabbing her jacket from her desk, throwing it over her shoulders.

"I'll go too." Wilson nodded getting the door for Cuddy, "we'll be able to cover more ground with two cars out there. House wanna' make it three?"

"And be by myself? That's no fun," House spun towards Howard who glared back, "Wilson's car has heated seats, Cuddy's car has boobs and a big ass." He moved his hands in the air like a scale and then, "heated seats wins out."

"Call me on my cell if you find her, as soon as you find her." Cuddy was already beginning to make her way down the hallway.

* * * *

"Hot dogs! Hot coffee!" There was a man yelling on the street in front of Addy, a man in a strange hat that looked like what he was holding out. What ever it was it smelled wonderful and her stomach lurched with hunger. She stared in amazement at the man who would reach into the big silver box and pull out the hot dogs. Licking her lips, she took a step forward, but just as she did a young couple laughing at something shoved into her, pushing her back.

"We'll have two please." Addison watched as the woman speaking shoved her hand in her pocket and pulled out the green paper that Addison had in her own pocket.

"You want to the works?" The strange hat man asked, shooting Addy a side ways glance. The woman and man nodded their head and the hat man reached into the silver box and layered more wonderful smells onto the hot dog. Addy's stomach lurched again as she watched hungrily. The woman handed over the money and got the hot dogs, leaving in a mass of giggling, just as she and her boyfriend had come. Addy rushed forward and smiled expectantly at the man.

"You want one too kid?" The man muttered and Addison did what she saw the woman do and nodded her head.

"The works?" She nodded her head again and the man reached into the silver box. As he did so, he looked Addy up and down.

"Hey aren't you cold like that? It's freakin' freezing out here!" The man could see Addison shivering and felt sort of sorry. He was talking again. Addison did the only thing she knew how to do to get a hot dog at this point and nodded.

"God, I thought so. Hold on." The man pulled a black sweatshirt with a big smiling hot dog screen printed on the back from the top of his cart and held it out to Addy, who took it confused. She just wanted a hot dog not whatever this was. Maybe he didn't understand. She pointed into the silver box and smiled again hoping he would understand.

"Yeah, yeah, just put this thing on first. It's making me get hypothermia just looking at you. I got ten of these freakin' things, can't give 'um away." The man held up the sweatshirt for Addison to get into, but she simply reached into her pocket and held out her money, shivering. The man raised his eye brow at her and grasped her wrist to force it on her. She pulled away, frightened.

"Okay, fine do it yourself." The man huffed as he set the sweatshirt across her shoulders. She held out her money again, wanting nothing more than the hot dog.

"Here, here, that's three dollars" The man shoved the hot dog at her and was surprised to see Addison simply take it, handing over all the money she had. "It's only three. Here, here's your change." The man took his money... maybe a bit more, and handed Addison back the rest. Through a mouthful of hot dog, her eyes got huge in amazement and took the money from him.

"Freakin' foreigners." The man muttered and then began to help a woman with a small dog who had made her way to the cart. After a moment of watching the small dog yip at her from the sidewalk, Addison began to walk down the street, putting the sweatshirt on all the way, making the arms hang past her hands.

* * * *

The car ride was quiet so far and House and Wilson scanned the streets for any sign of Addison. It was deathly quiet out on the streets as well as several police cars drifted through the softly falling snow. Finally House broke the silence.

"You ever seen Cuddy look like that?" He continued to look out the window.

"What do you mean?" Wilson shot back.

"I don't know, like someone had just torched all of her low cut blouses and slut shoes."

"I take that to mean that you've never seen Cuddy look worried and if that's true, are you kidding me? Cuddy worries every day, especially since having you as an employee."

"I've seen her worry like that, we all have. This is different. She's fallen for the mongrel." House grumbled, causing Wilson to laugh. "What's so funny?" Finally House's eyes were away from the window and shooting daggers at Wilson.

"Oh come on House, you would rather be getting a lobotomy than looking for a patient on a Friday night."

"It's like Howard said, I'm simply worried about the hospital loosing a valuable asset and the science world loosing an interesting subject."

"Oh that's bull. The odds of you out here trying to help Howard are like a million to one and you could really give a crap about the science world. You fell for her, you and Cuddy both, that's why you're out here. You're here because maybe, just maybe, the great Gregory House, at times, feels senses responsibility."

"Oh God, don't analyze me. I think the thing that's the most shocking about this whole situation is how distant YOU'VE been with this thing. You, "Mr. Rescue Fantasy", I'm surprised you haven't tried to jump in the sack with her."

"House, she's twenty five."

"Oh, like that's stopped you before."

"She's a child, she's innocent, she's out here all by herself, she doesn't understand anything." Wilson became distant. House smirked.

"You're frightened by her. She prays on all of your weaknesses. I bet you've even spent some sleepless nights thinking if we're doing the right thing by her. You wish you could be more involved, but you don't because you know this would consume you. I'm proud of you Wilson, running scared from this monster of neediness."

"And what about you, you practically strangled Chase when he became head of her case. You wanted to be there just as much as I or Cuddy did. And now Cuddy's getting close to her and so is Chase and Howard's just pushing you further away from the entire project. It must drive you crazy to see others invading on your find. Taking over the first patient you ever really cared about."

"Wilson..." House shot back.

"No, I got it right didn't I. You want to be responsible for her and it pisses you off that you can't be."

"Wilson!"

"You make fun of me and my rescue fantasies, when I might not be the only one who wants to wear a super hero costume under my clothes."

"Wilson, damn it stop the car!" Wilson looked through the windshield and saw Addison plodding down the sidewalk, munching on her hot dog, giant sweatshirt hanging off her.

"Oh God" Wilson through on the brakes making the car slide on the snow. House rolled down the window frantically.

"Addison!" He held causing her head to turn and a wide smile to cross her face. Wilson pulled up against the sidewalk and switched his hazards on. Both he and House bolted from the car and, after checking both way scurried across the snowy road to where Addison stood. Still smiling,a cheek full of hot dog.

"Hey, Addy, what are you doing out here?" Wilson started trying to sound calm and not scare her, although everything in his body wanted to heave her up from the pavement and get her in the car. She smiled at House and held out her half eaten hot dog proudly.

"That's nice Addy, come on let's go." House wasn't good about hiding his emotions with Addy and instantly grabbed her wrist to get her to the car. Addy went with him for a moment and then saw that they were heading for the car. The car meant back to the hospital and so the struggle began. She dug her feet into the snow and pulled House nearly over.

"No, come on Addy, we gotta' go back, people are worried about you." Wilson tried coming around her and putting his arms around her waist. She kicked and dig more into the snow.

"Addison, stop, come on." House huffed. Just then the snow around them lit up with blue and red flashes of light and there was the sound of a siren blip as a police cruiser slowed to a stop, right near Wilson's car.

"Damn it." House breathed.

"Let the girl go Sir." Wilson looked behind him and saw a police officer stepping from his vehicle with his gun already raised.

"Oh God, no," he laughed briefly out of nerves, "this isn't how it looks."

"Let her go now, or I shoot you." The cop was firm and even. He wasn't going to budge. Wilson sighed and let Addy go. She instantly bolted from his arms and ran back to the sidewalk.

"Now, both of you put your hands up and walk slowly backwards to me."

"Officer, we're doctors and that's a patient. She needs to be taken back to hospital to be treated." Wilson tried.

"Shut up and walk back to me." Both House and Wilson did as they were told. "Now get down on your knees."

"It's a little hard for me to do." House quipped indicating his cane.

"Do it!" The officer still had his gun unshaken on both men.

Addison watched for a few minutes from the sidewalk eating her hot dog. House looked over his shoulder to see if she was still there making her smile back at him, unaware of what was going on. House sighed and turned back to the officer.

"Look, if you would just take the girl with you and we can all go to the station and sort this out."

"You killed three women and I'm supposed to be listening to you? Both of you, put your hands behind your back." Before they knew it, House and Wilson could feel handcuffs being snapped on their wrists.

"Damn it. I can't believe this is happening." Wilson looked back at Addison on the sidewalk. "Addison, you stay right there, okay? Don't go anywhere." Addison smiled at Wilson and giggled slightly before seeing something down the road and heading towards it.

"Addy, Addison, no, stay right there."

"Hey, you don't talk to her. You stay there and you shut up." The cop walked back to his car and radioed in. "This is Cornell, I think I've got the rapists. I need back up on Main and 5th right away."


	25. First Words

The street lamps had been on for a while now as the snow danced underneath them. Addison found herself watching, stopping in her tracks and just... watching. But the street held so many distractions that these moments didn't last for very long before something else captivated her. There were getting to be more and more sounds, louder and louder as more and more people began to crowd around her. They were going from building to building laughing and talking, some shooting her glances every now and then, but then continuing on their way. Addison moved through the crowds watching and smiling in excitement. She couldn't believe that she was doing this. She had never felt this free in her entire life. The air smelled like car gasoline and burned food, but she didn't mind. It was far better then the sterile smells of the hospital or the musty smell of her "cage" at her mother's house. Her mind suddenly shot back to the room and she looked for something to distract her out of thinking about it. It came sooner than she had expected, in the form of... a television. Since leaving the captivity of her mother, this flashing box with little people in it was her favorite thing in the world. Like a moth to flame, she made her way across the street to the window of a bar, where the television blared a basketball game. She pressed her hands against the window and watched, the rest of the world melted around her.

"Hey, don't do that! Don't touch the glass." A booming voice next to her yelled and she shrank back in surprise to see a large man in a black sweatshirt standing in the doorway. "You wanna' watch it, go inside and watch... wait..." The man stared at Addison, his face contorted in thought. "You look really familiar. Damn!" His face changed instantly from thought to excitement and Addison was having a hard time trying to make sense of all the emotions begin shown to her. "Hey Reggie! Reggie!" The man was leaning into the door of the bar now yelling. "Reggie, get your ass out here damn it!" There was a moments pause as the big man simply stared at Addison a huge grin on his face. Then, out from behind the door came a thin man with wild hair and a faded skull on his shirt.

"What is it man? I got a hole bar full of people back there."

"Look who it is!" The big man shoved a thick finger towards Addison's direction. "Its that frickin' wild kid. You know in the papers?"

"Jesus, I think you're right." Reggie grinned too and leaned on the door frame for a moment watching Addison intently. Not being able to take any more of this intense eye contact, Addison slowly started to back away from the window, not caring about the television anymore.

"Wait, where are you going? You, uh, you wanna' come in?" Reggie began. Addison stopped and looked quizzically at both men. "Come on, first one's on me. Maybe you can sign something for my wall, bars do better if a celebrity comes to them, yah know?" Reggie held the door open smiling. Addison peered into the door and to her amazement saw that the bar was full of televisions, everywhere, and they were all showing something different. She smiled at Reggie and began up the steps.

"There ya' go, yeah come on in. Good call Mosh." Reggie shot back to the man at the door who gave him a thumbs up and then was forced to deal with the line of complaining people who had been waiting in the cold to get in.

* * * *

"We get a phone call, right? Isn't that how this works? A phone call?" Wilson was frantic. He couldn't believe that he was sitting in the police station accused of being a rapist in handcuffs.

"Yeah, you do. You do get a phone call, after I talk with you." The sergeant sat in front of them shuffling through paper work and sipping his coffee slowly. Presently he looked up, distracted by Wilson leg twitching out of control. "Why are you so jumpy Mr. Wilson?"

"He's new at this." House began.

"New at what?" The sergeant shot back, already knowing that he wasn't going to like this man with the cane.

"At having to deal with you imbeciles arresting people for nothing. I, on the other and, have been through this system before." House didn't even make eye contact with the sergeant. He had his head resting on the back of his chair, staring up at the ceiling.

"Are you telling me, Mr. House, that you've been arrested before?" The sergeant eased back as if he had just made a huge point.

"Isn't that what that paperwork tells you? Or is that just a clever prop to make my friend and I pee our pants?" House now looked the sergeant in the eye.

"I don't think you quite get the kind of trouble that you two are in right now. If you did, you'd be answering my questions and not issuing me a handful of smart ass remarks. Do you have any idea the kind of looks you two were getting from the other cops on the way in here, hell even the other inmates? Do you know how easy it would be for me just to throw you in one of those cells back there? One of the ones full of guys with sisters... daughters... mothers? How long do you think you'd last?" The sergeant was sitting on the edge of his chair staring House coldly in the eye. House could tell that if this man had half a chance he would "commit police brutality" on both he and Wilson.

"House, tell him you've been arrested." Wilson snapped, leg going a mile a minute now.

"He knows I've been." House refused to break eye contact with the argent, refused to let him win.

"What were you two doing to that girl?" The sergeant broke contact with House and moved to Wilson.

"The girl is a patient of ours. Addison Hopwood. She escaped from the hospital. Our superior called you to tell you to put men out to look for her. That was her, we were trying to bring her back to the hospital."

"Is she dangerous?"

"No. But the world is to her. She can't be out by herself. Look if you just let me call the hospital I'm sure I can get this cleared up." The sergeant looked at Wilson and took another long sip of his coffee. He waited a minute... two minutes... what seemed like five minutes and then stood and walked away.

"Wait... where's he going? Are we getting the phone call?" Wilson perked as he watched the sergeant walk away.

"A million bucks says he's going to talk to his boss to see what the odds are that we're going to sue. Probably make it easier for them just to stick us in a cell, make it look like there really was a valid reason for arresting us. Don't want the pigs to look stupid." House stared at the ceiling trying not to think about Addison wandering around alone.

Five minutes later the sergeant was back and Wilson instantly knew the news wasn't going to be good.

"Okay, we're going to put you guys in a cell in the back until we get this sorted out." Another officer flanked the sergeant's side until there were two sets of menacing eyes staring at them.

"I'm telling you, you let me have my phone call... or HIS phone call for that matter." Wilson motioned to House, who pretended to act shocked, "and this is sorted out, in five minutes."

"It'll just be for a bit, just until I have a chance to talk to the chief."

"You got a million bucks Wilson?" House mumbled as both were grabbed by the arm.

* * * *

"So then I told her that I was through and you know what see said?"

"What?"

"She said that she had been seeing this guys for months... months! And they had an apartment together, some little piss hole on Jefferson Ave."

"Oh man that sucks." Addison sat on the bench next to the man who was talking and felt the room around her spin. She had never felt her head feel so heavy.

"What do you think Wild Child? That sucks right?" When there was no response the man at the bar slapped her on the back and said,

"Yeah, it sucks, yeah." Addison slowly turned towards the man, whose eyes looked as heavy as hers felt. Ever since she had sat down to watch the TV they had been giving her bad tasting water, but she was sure that if she stopped drinking it she wouldn't be allowed to watch the TV as everyone sitting around her was drinking it. Now Addison felt strange as if the stool underneath her was moving on its own and it made her smile. She watched the man next to her form the words with his mouth and somewhere from inside her she made the same motion with her mouth and let sound come out.

"Yyyyyyeahhhhhhhh." Everyone around her erupted in cheers and laughter.

The bartender smiling, filled a small glass in front of her with some clear liquid.

"Here kid." Addison's head swiveled and she looked down at it not knowing what to do. She looked to the man next to her who was showing her his small glass and putting it up to his mouth. She grabbed the glass and did the same. The taste was horrible and she coughed as it burned her throat, making her eyes tear up. There was another round of applause and cheers as she set the drink down. The room got more wild as the spinning increased and increased. She gripped the wood of the bar for stability. Presently she pushed herself away from the bar and stood, trying to find her feet. She could see her sneakers and then the wood of the floor and then it felt like a split second she was to the door.

"Wild Child!!!!" The bartender and the man that had been seated next to her yelled out and clinked their glasses together laughing. She turned towards them with a huge smile on her face.

"Yeahhhhh." She grinned drunkenly and pushed open the door.

The cold air hit her like a ton of bricks, but her face felt hot, as she stumbled out of the bar and started down the sidewalk. She looked down at her hands and smiled widely, they looked so funny, she let out a snort of laughter and let her head fly back against the wind. She felt wonderful. Her head was spinning and the stars above her seemed to follow in suit. She wondered how everyone else was able to walk so straight. She kept stumbling down the street, shivering now as the wind and snow cut through the sweatshirt she was wearing.

As she walked the streets began to get less and less populated by people and it became quiet and dark. The feeling was amazing as the world spun around her and she wondered what it would be like if she were to jump, would she be lifted right off the ground? She grinned and began to run and then after a few seconds jumped high into the air. She landed and fell over, her legs feeling wobbly under her. She giggled and got up, staring up at the stars. She stood watching them twinkle above her, grinning widely and then at the top of her lungs,

"YEAHHHHHHH!" She giggled and continued to stare up at the sky. All of a sudden the contrast of the dark to the lighted stars was interrupted by headlights. There was a black car making its way down the quiet street towards her. She glanced at it for a moment and then looked back up at the stars, thinking that it would just keep going by like the others had. But the car came closer and then slowed to a stop next to her. There was the sound of an automatic window going down and she turned to see who it was, the man with the stick maybe.

"Hey there cookie." It was a voice that was unfamiliar to her. "It's cold out here isn't it? Wanna' hop in? I could take you were you need to go." She couldn't see the man's face only hear his voice. She walked up to window to see who it was, drunken grin still plastered on her face. Just then the door in front of her was kicked open slamming into her knee and sending her tumbling to the ground. She whined in pain and felt the feeling of strong arms scooping her up around her waist and hauling her towards the car. She struggled and kicked, screaming, but to no avail, she soon found herself being thrown into the car and felt it speed off.


	26. One for the Books

Cuddy's eyes were burning from squinting through the darkness of her window. She rubbed them quickly, causing tears to fall down her cheeks and then started scanning the sidewalks again. Her heart was wedged in her throat and she was sure it would stay there until Addy was found. Her mind reeled. She would give anything just to see through Addy's eyes for just one second. She knew the city so well she would have been able to tell where she was with just a seconds peek.

"Come on Addy, come on." She whispered to herself and tried to keep her hands from shaking on the steering wheel. Just then Cuddy's cellphone rang in her purse, she sighed and riffled through until finding it. The moment she saw the police station number on the ID she whipped it open.

"Hello?" She was frantic. "Wilson, is that you?"

* * * * *

Addison struggled against the man from the passenger seat. He had her shirt tightly gripped in his hand and was pressing her against the wall at arms length. No matter how hard she tried to push her way up, he was too strong and kept her pinned. The man laughed and Addison could see the man's teeth in the moonlight.

"Jesus, you're a wild one huh?" The car around her was spinning still and even though she tried her hardest to focus on what was going on, the drunkenness was getting worse.

"You know the one before you... she was a real catch. Long hair, legs all the way up. Figures the night I really need something, the only thing that comes along is a damn tomboy. But hey, there's a first time for everything." The man turned the wheel and the car pulled into an alleyway, completely abandoned and pitch dark. "Guess this is as good a place as any, huh kid?" He put the car in park and Addy heard the engine turn off and watched the headlights go dead. She could hear the man's heavy breathing next to her and could see the vague outline of his body in the darkness. "Come here." The man gripped Addy's wrist and hauled her up from the seat, slamming her hard against the door. She felt his other hand grip her other wrist and felt his hot breath on her face. The stench of his cigarette breath nearly made her vomit. "Hey Wild One! Wanna' get wild?" The man breathed at her as he shoved his body over her. A tear came down her cheek, claustrophobia taking over her as she felt his hand release her wrist and start to slide down her leg. It was then that she had a flash in her memory. She remembered Howard picking her off the floor at the hospital and remembered him dropping her, doubled over in pain. What had she done? The man's fingers were by the zipper of her pants, his stench cascading over her again. Just then, the full memory came back and Addison's knee flew up hard and ridged into the man's crotch.

"Son of a bitch!" He let out a stilted yelp and shot off her, recoiling in the drivers seat as pain coursed over his whole body. Addy watched his form rise and fall in the corner. It would be easy for her to grab the hand of the door, pull down and run. But in that moment, something came over her. The form of that man took on multiple forms, it was her mother, it was her moldy room, it was years of being kept from fresh air and freedom. Suddenly with every ounce of energy left in her body, she leapt from the passenger seat on top of the man, to his shock and began pounding full force on his face. Her knuckles went into his cheek and his mouth. She was crying as she brought another round on his chin and forehead.

"Get the hell of me!" She felt a hard blow against her face that sent her flying back into the passenger seat again. She felt the taste of blood in her mouth and it only fueled her anger. The man was climbing back over towards her, swearing and spitting. Instantly she shot her leg out and felt it make contact with his nose, hearing the bones crunch under her sneaker. The man cried out and Addison felt something wet soaking through her pant leg. She let her leg fly out again, this time it hit something soft and the man flew against the drivers side door, coughing and hacking from having the wind knocked out of him. It was then that Addison saw a metal travel mug sitting on the floor and took this moment to grab it. She shot back over and with full force clubbed the man across the face and head, over and over and over again. Tears streamed down her cheeks now as she gritted her teeth and continued to beat the dark form underneath her.

And then... all of a sudden... the car grew silent. Her own labored breathing was the only thing she could hear. The form beneath her was motionless. The mug in her hand dripped blood onto the seat and she dropped it the moment she noticed. Her hands were shaking as she clambered her way back to the passenger door, keeping her face to the man the entire time. She pushed open the door and nearly spilled out onto the snowy concrete of the alley. The air had dropped what felt like ten more degrees, since she had been taken and she instantly started shivering.

The wind whipped around her as she staggered out of the alley into the single street lamp light, her lip flowing blood and her knuckles looking like hamburger meat. A wave of drunkenness flowed over her and the pain in her hands and lip dulled, making her smile slightly. She began to head back towards the lights of the city, her legs becoming heavy, she dragged them under her body.

The snow fell quietly around her as she tongued her lower lip, the blood had now dripped onto the front of her sweatshirt and she giggled slightly for no reason. It was dead around her, the houses were dark and looked uninviting. But then out of the darkness came bright colors, blues and reds. It was a flashing light and there was the sound of a siren. The car pulled up along side of her.

"Addison?" She could hear a woman's voice. "Addison Hopwood?" She turned slightly, not wanting to be dragged into another car she stepped back. "It's okay." The woman opened the car door and stepped out with her hands up. Addison saw that she was dressed all in blue and had strange things dangling off her pants. "There are a lot of people looking for you. Are you okay?" The officer was shocked to see the way that Addy looked, but was trying desperately not to show it. "I'm not going to hurt you alright? Vick, you wanna' come out here?" Just then there was another person in blue exiting the car. This time it was a man.

"Hey Addy, let's get you home, okay?"

Addison's heart started pounding. She took another step back, flashes from the car in her mind. A giant wave of alcohol struck her sending her legs out from under her and Addy was in the snow on the ground.

"Okay, sweetheart. It's okay." The officers ran up to her, Vick quickly scooping her up out of the snow. She began to fight slightly, but was weak due to the alcohol.

"It's okay, no one's going to hurt you." Vick breathed as he carried her to the cruiser and as the female officer held the back door open, slid her in. "Get me the blanket from the trunk, she's shivering up a storm back here." He said as he buckled Addison into the backseat. The female officer obliged and soon the numbness in Addy's fingers began to fade as Vick wrapped the blanket tightly around her.

* * * * *

"Lisa Cuddy to see the officer in charge please." Cuddy rushed up to the front desk of the police station wanting desperately to clear this up so that she could get back in her car and start searching again.

"You here for the doctors?" The desk clerk asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, yes, I am."

"Right this way." The clerk sighed and turned from the desk. Cuddy swallowed and followed, not sure what to expect. She wove behind the clerk for what seemed like hours before they made it to the holding cells in the back. It was then that Cuddy started to get worried. "Right here." The clerk motioned to the left and Cuddy turned. When she did, the sight that met her eyes almost made her laugh out loud, but she held it in. House and Wilson sat alone in the cell on a bench in the back, not talking but looking bored out of their minds. It was so tempting just to walk away and leave them there, but this was an emergency. She walked up to the bars, trying desperately to hide her grin. Wilson's eyes got huge the moment she moved in to view.

"Oh thank God! No one here is listening to us." Breathed Wilson nearly sprinting to the bars.

"I can't believe this." Cuddy sighed. She was just about to open her mouth to lecture them, when the doors to the station burst open and Vick entered carrying Addison in his arms.

"We got her!" He called and Cuddy's head turned.

"Oh my God!" She ran from the holding cell, leaving House and Wilson to crane their necks to see what was going on. Cuddy clicked up to Vick, who set Addison unsteadily on her feet in front of Cuddy.

"Oh, Addy." Cuddy sighed looking at her and like a mother began inspecting every inch of her face. "What happened to her?"

"We don't know. We found her like this on 54th." The female officer began.

"She got all the way out there?"

"Apparently." Slowly Addy's eyes opened and seeing Cuddy's face she smiled and giggled. Cuddy smiled back.

"Hi Addy." Cuddy stroked the girl's hair back with her hand. "We're going to be here just for a little while longer okay? And then we'll go home." Cuddy turned to the police officer nearest her. "I want my doctors out of that cell, now please."

Wilson watched anxiously as keys were put in the cell's lock and the door slid back.

"Sorry about the confusion, but you understand, given what's been going on." The officer couldn't even look him in the eye. Wilson said nothing but stepped from the cell with a sigh, House following after him.

"Idiot." He whispered as he passed the officer.

They found Cuddy talking to the sergeant that had put them in the cell, with Addy sitting next to her. Cuddy was rubbing her back with one hand as she talked. Addy was fusing as one of the officers tried to clean her lip. She winced and pulled her head back, whining as she did.

"Oh my God, Addy." Wilson's jaw nearly dropped to the floor when he saw her. At the sound of a familiar voice Addy turned and seeing Wilson and House instantly started smiling. She shot up from her seat, maybe a little too quickly, because she staggered for a moment and then began to try to make her way over to them. The officer gripped her wrist.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, sit back down here." Addy tried to pull away, making the officer try harder to get her into the chair. She didn't want to be touched by this strange man that was making her hurt. She wanted to be with people she knew.

"It's okay." Cuddy had stopped talking to the sergeant and now had her hand on the officer's arm. "They're doctors." She felt like it was the millionth time she had said that that night. The officer sighed and let go of Addison's arm, sending her instantly back on her course. She swayed for a little while and then began to "walk" towards the two men, who met her half way.

"Okay, okay," House grabbed Addy with his free hand to steady her, looking over her face carefully. What the hell had happened to her?

"What is she? Drunk?" Wilson asked in shock. House looked her up and down and then let go ever so slightly with his hand. She giggled and dropped, Wilson rushing forward to steady her, but House already closing his hand back around her.

"Yup."

"Where did she...?"

"I have no clue." House looked around to find some free chairs and once he had, motioned to Wilson to help him get Addy over to them. Wilson gripped Addy around the waist and together they slowly got her to a chair. She sat down, House seating himself on one side, Wilson on the other.

"Addy." House tried to get the girl to turn towards him. "Addy." He clapped his hands and she turned towards the sound. "What did you do, huh?" Addison smiled sleepily and hiccuped. The officer that had been taking care of her before silently handed Wilson a cold compress, who handed it to House. He placed it gently on Addy's lip, causing her to whine slightly and try to pull away. "I know, I know, it sucks." Just then Addy felt something all the way in the bottom of her stomach, it turned slightly and a wave of nausea passed over her.

"Uh, House?" Wilson could see what was about to happen from a mile away. "House, you might want to turn her head to..." But it was too late. Addy lowered herself slightly and then threw up all over the front of House's shirt. He dropped the cold compress and leapt back.

"Damn it!" Wilson smiled knowing that karma was really at work here.

"Good shot Addy." Wilson whispered and scooped up to cold compress, which had miraculously evaded the attack and carefully turned Addy's face towards him, reapplying it to her lip.

"Yeahhhhhhh." Addy said slowly and sleepily.

"What?" Wilson couldn't believe he had heard an actual word. But instead of repeating it Addy picked up her hand touched Wilson's cheek. She had never seen the five o'clock shadow on his face and she wondered what it felt like. She touched his cheek and laughed.

"Hey House, she's laughing." Wilson pointed out, knowing House had been trying to get her to do it all week.

"She's drunk, it doesn't count. Although it would make sense, she's looking at you." House muttered as he limped back up to them finishing to wipe his shirt off with a towel one of the officers had given him. House watched Addy touch Wilson's face and for the first time noticed her knuckles. He limped up and took the hand away from Wilson's face to get a closer look at it.

"God, what the hell?" Wilson was shocked he hadn't noticed it. "It looks like she was punching a brick wall."

"Or someone's face." House looked closer at the cuts on her hand. "See right here? There's a tooth mark right there." Just then the station was filled with the sound of the scanners going off.

"There's an unconscience man in the alley between 52nd and 30. An ambulance and cruisers are needed on the scene."


	27. Break Through

The sun hit her face like a ton of bricks and she moaned, rolling over. The smell of the room was too familiar, too sterile. She opened one eye and found that she was in her old room at the hospital, wrist restraints strapped back on and IV back in her arm. She sighed, moving her jaw around feeling how swollen it was.

"Morning sunshine!" His voice was like razor blades working their way out through her swollen eye. She could hear his cane on the floor and felt her stomach roll over. House limped over to the blinds and pulled them shut. The razor blades subsided slightly, but still continued their course. She heard the cane coming closer and squenched her eyes tighter, pulling on the arm restraints. "Welcome to the club of people waking up with a pile of puke for a pillow." House leaned outside the door debonairly, "can I get a clean up in here?" The nurse closest to the door glanced up from her computer screen and sighed. "Yes, I'm asking you to stop playing Free Cell and actually do your job." The nurse raised her eyebrows.

"I'm entering patient files."

"Is there really a difference?" House leaned back into the room, seeing the nurse take off her glasses and rise from her chair. In a matter of moments the nurse was in the room taking latex gloves from the box on the wall. "Thanks."

"I'm not doing it for you." The nurse breathed and walked to Addison carrying a basin and cloth. "Hey, Addy, let's get you cleaned up." House watched as the nurse wiped the vomit from Addison's mouth and began to change her pillow case. He couldn't stop looking at Addison's bandaged hand, what had happened in that car? What would make Addison punch someone so hard that pain didn't matter? The nurse finished, gave Addison a second look of concern and then hustled out of the room, leaving the monitors to beep in the eerie silence.

"All right, here we go." House sighed and limped up to the side of the bed, taking his pen light out of his pocket. The cane was coming closer again and Addison's eyes remained clamped shut. House knew exactly what she was going through, the nausea, the sharp needles piercing through every inch of her brain, everyone's twenty first birthday ended this way and most of House's weekends. He sat down on the bedside and leaned over his patient who was anything but willing to cooperate. He placed his thumb on her eyelid and began to slowly pry it open. She yanked her head away and moaned. "Come on Addy, just for a second." House breathed as his hands followed her head to the other side of the pillow and began the task of trying to check her pupils again.

"She feeling better?" Suddenly House began to feel what Addison was feeling at that very moment. The sound of Howard's voice from the doorway made the breakfast in his stomach surge upward and he sighed in anger as he continued to struggle.

"She has a hangover." He stated curtly.

"Well, I guess I can understand that." Howard let out a polite laugh. At this House gave up and looked over at the man that would be dead right now if House could make it out of the hospital before the cops came. Why was Howard looking down at his shoes like some scared little school boy?

"So that's the diagnosis doctor, don't really need your help." House sighed not taking his eyes from the small man, almost daring him to move.

"The hospital board is gathering today, want to see if this is the right place for Addy."

"And you're telling me because..."

"I want you there."

"To do what? Hold your hand? Tell them what a great job you're doing?"

"They want Addison there too. I need someone to keep her quiet. Maybe if they think that she's actually learning something here, they won't give her to someone else, Cuddy's going to be too busy defending this hospital's position."

"Are you sure about that?"

"She responds to you and..."

"No, I mean Cuddy, you really think she's going to vouch for you in there?"

"She'll vouch for this hospital and for Addison. Can I count on you to do the same?"

House's glare moved from Howard to the floor and then to Addison who was testing opening her eyes slowly, she was opening one eye, leaving the other clenched shut. House watched for a moment and then turned back to the doorway.

"No, you can't, find someone else."

The headache was gone, but she was exhausted. She sat in the diagnostic room on the floor with her knees up to her chest, watching as House stood in front of the white board taping the white board marker on his mouth in thought. The board was filled with symptoms of the patient they were working on and nothing had been crossed off or added for over twenty minutes, they were at a stalemate with it. House sighed finding it nearly impossible to concentrate. Chase pulled a chair out from the table and tapped the seat looking down at Addy.

"Come sit here, Addy." He instructed but Addison simply rested her face down on her knees and glared at him.

"Making her cram before the big exam?" House mumbled not looking away from the board.

"You're telling me you're not worried about Addison being transferred to another hospital?" Chase tapped the chair again, more sternly.

"Let's see, am I?" House swung away from the board. "She leaves and what happens? I never have to see Howard again and I get you back as a permanent member of my team, seems like sunshine and roses to me."

"I'm not buying it." Chase sighed, rising from his own chair and walking up to Addy, crouching down in front of her. He knew she knew what he meant, she had done in more than willingly hundreds of times before in the observation lab. He put the back of his hand on her forehead and not feeling any temperature, grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her from the floor. "Come on Addy, I just want you to sit in the chair."

"Chase, she's feeling sick, leave her alone." Cameron instantly shot out, surprised at what she was seeing.

"She's not dying, she has a hangover. I'll give her something to eat and she'll feel better, but she's going to have to show them that she's at least learned how to sit in a chair." Addy struggled to pull her hand away, wanting more than anything to be left alone.

"Wait a minute, Howard asked me to be at that meeting. He hates me. What a shock to find out that he doesn't want to show off his protégée."

"I'm off the case." Chase mumbled continuing to struggle with Addison, who was now gripping the door frame with her free hand.

"What was that?" House feigned, taking a step forward.

"I'm off the case! Addison get in the damn chair!" Chase yelled causing Addison to let go of the door frame and bury her face in her knees, hiccuping.

"Chase!" Foreman rose from his seat. "Calm down."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Cameron chimed in.

"Howard's telling the board today that choosing me to head up the study was a bad decision. He's going to destroy all my credibility with this hospital, maybe even make them question hiring me to work with House." Chase breathed finally letting go of Addison's wrist, but still remaining crouched down next to her, feeling horrible that he had let his emotions get the best of him.

"Howard was right, he never should have given you that much responsibility." House quipped. Chase remained silent watching Addison slowly begin to settle again. "Okay, Chase is an idiot, Howard's a dick and Mr. Lenny", House turned back to the white board, "is..." He breathed in deeply and putting his tongue through his lips let out a long raspberry. Suddenly there was a slight giggling sound heard from near Chase. House peered around the stunned doctor to see Addison staring at him , a huge grin on her face, giggling uncontrollably.

"That counts." House exclaimed, instantly setting the marker on the white board and limping over to where Addison was seated. Her laughter was beginning to die down as he pushed on Chase's shoulder indicating for him to move out of the way. Chase did and it was House that was soon, although it took him a little longer to do it, crouching in front of Addison. She grinned widely again, watching House's face excitedly. He waited for a moment and then put his hand to his mouth and buzzed his lips into it making an even longer fart noise into his hand. Her eyebrows instantly rose in surprise and she burst out laughing again, reaching out instantly and taking House's hand away from his face. He let her and she looked at the palm, confused, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration but the huge smile never left her face. She stopped looking at the hand and then expectantly looked at House, tugging on his hand indicating she wanted him to do it again. He stuck out his tongue again this time and made another fart sound. She cracked up again and tried to imitated what he was doing by slowly sticking out her tongue. She watched as she rose up from the floor and began to limp over to the fridge, then turned back to her project at hand, she simply kept sticking her tongue out, not understanding she had to breath out of her mouth to make the sound.

"I started off too simple. It looks like she's developed at least the sense of humor of a six year old... or a college student." House reached into the fridge and grabbed out Wilson's lunch that he had stolen out of the lounge earlier, a veggie pita. "Maybe we should start with "Animal House" and work our way up from there." He limped back over to Addison and crouched back down in front of her, holding out the veggie wrap. She stuck her tongue out at him longing to know how it worked. He put the sandwich directly in front of her face, showing her that he wouldn't do it again until she took it. She sighed and took the sandwich, taking a bite of it hungrily.

"Well, that's not going to happen House, the board's meeting at four o'clock. Addy probably won't be here after the weekend." Chase stated folding his arms across his chest.

It was then that House realized, maybe Chase was right, maybe, "cramming" was just what Addy should be doing.


	28. Which of These Things Does Not Belong

"Please everyone, can we have a little concentration here? We need to get through the items on today's agenda before the sun sets." Dr. Eleanor Taylor had taken over the helm of the board meeting since the main item on the schedule was whether Howard should continue his work at Princeton Plainsboro. The hubbub around the table was all caused by that very subject. The only three not discussing the topic were Cuddy, Wilson and Howard, who sat back from the table deep in their own personal thoughts. What were things going to be like for Addy, the hospital and the employees after this meeting was closed? The other question was, where was House with Addy?

Addy sat in the extra chair in House's office, her tongue sticking out as she struggled to figure out the sound effect. Her legs were curled up underneath her and she wore the hood of her hoodie up over her head. House was playing The Rolling Stones from his desktop and was surprised to see Addy absently keeping beat with her hand on the arm rest of the chair. She leaned her head back on the head rest and stared up at the ceiling focusing even harder to make the sound. House tossed his ball up in the air, catching it, thinking and watching her. She was so comfortable here now, she almost looked like a typical young woman sitting there, except for the tongue sticking out, that might not have been possible if it weren't for the hospital and Cuddy. But she had been attacked, they might never find out what happened in that car, that was due to Howard's stupidity. If she stayed here, Howard's mindlessness would likely stay with her. Was it worth the risk? But if she left, so would the mystery. They had barely even scratched the surface of Addison's mind. If Chase and Howard weren't at the helm maybe things would be different. He caught the ball and watched Addy carefully again. Her brow furrowed and she breathed in deeply letting out a long sigh. How had he done that? Presently House rose from his chair and grabbed his cane.

"Come on Addy, we're late." Addy's concentration was broken and she watched as House began to limp towards the door. She jumped up from the chair and strided next to him. She smiled and jumped around him excitedly, pulling gingerly on his hand. He limped down the hall and turned towards her for a moment, sticking his tongue out and making the farting sound again. The grin on her face got huge and she laughed. House hid his smile and watched as she began to try to master it again. It wasn't long before they reached the door of the board room. House reached for the handle and sighed, turning it and pushing the door open. the door swung free and revealed a room brimming with white coats. House had never seen so many people take an interest in a board meeting. Cuddy, Wilson and Howard all looked up from their thoughts and seemed relieved to see him standing there. It was maybe the first time he had ever seen that reaction projected at him. He turned towards Addison,

"Show time." He walked into room, Addy following close behind not really paying attention, still trying to figure out the trick. When she realized where she was she was already inside the room. She jumped slightly when she saw all of the eyes on her and slowly put her tongue back in her mouth.

"Dr. House, come right in." Eleanor smiled and pointed at two vacant chairs right near the head of the table. "We were just getting started." House made his way to the chairs and pushed out Addy's, who stood staring at everyone around the table, as they stared right back at her.

"Addy, come on, sit here." Still keeping an eye on everyone, she made her way to her seat and curled into it. Eleanor issued her a warm smile and then turned back to the room, who was still staring at the girl. House looked over at her, seeing her shrink slightly in her chair, maybe he made the wrong decision.

"Jeez, tough crowd." House issued loudly, causing everyone in the room to realize what was going on. Eleanor took a deep breath in, smiling at the room.

"I've asked Dr. House to bring Addison here, so that we can see who we are actually making decisions about. And maybe see whether we've, as a hospital, made any impact on her."

"We have documentation of her growth under my tutelage." Howard spoke up instantly, adjusting himself in his chair as if preparing for a fight.

"Doctor Howard, we have all of your paperwork."

"So, then I really don't know why we are having this discussion." Now that the attention was no longer on her this left Addison to return to her previous task of learning the trick.

"I want the respect that I should be given..." Suddenly there was a snort laugh from House's chair and all eyes where on him again.

"Sorry, just thought it was funny, please carry on." Howard glared for a moment and then continued.

"I have gotten that girl," he waved a finger at Addison, "to the point that she is at now. Sitting in a chair like an actual human being." Just at this moment Addison had an epiphany, she breathed in deeply and let it out through her mouth making a huge raspberry sound. The entire room jumped. Addy looked around the room with an enormous grin on her face. She tugged on House's sleeve wanting to show him as if he hadn't seen. She did it again. House picked up her hand and made her give him a high five.

"Oh yeah" House waved a finger at Addy, mocking Howard, "I got her to that point, so put me down for that respect thing too."

"I'm beginning to regret asking you to come here." Howard quipped under his breath at House. House leaned into the table back towards him.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm just getting warmed up. Sorry, haven't worked in front of a crowd this big in a while." Howard ran his hand over his face and sighed. Eleanor sighed and then smiled at Addison warmly.

"Addison, can you look at me? Addison?" Addy smiled back and then made another raspberry sound, giggling. Wilson and Cuddy, even had a hard time not letting their smiles show at how Addison was unknowingly taking full command over the room.

"Addison, I need you to focus now, okay?" Eleanor pushed back from the table and reached underneath taking out a basket with colored blocks and cards. The moment Addison saw the basket she was instantly interested in it. Anytime one of those baskets came out it was something new for her to investigate. Howard perked in his chair a little, eyeing the other doctors around him.

"Do you want to try a new puzzle?" Eleanor continued removing the things from the basket.

"Yeahhhhhh..." Addison said slowly not taking her eyes from the basket, to the shock of everyone at the table, including Howard. But then he was in a rush to make it seem like he knew the entire time. Eleanor glanced at the people around the table, hopefully and then continued.

"Can you show me which of these doesn't belong?" Addison looked down at the cards in front of her. She had never seen pictures cards without blocks on them. She bit her bottom lip, not understanding.

"Which of these pictures doesn't go with the other ones?" Eleanor tried again. "Can you point to it?" Addy stared down at the card. There was a goat, a cat, a pig and a washing machine on it. She stared at the card and then back up at Eleanor. House was starting to get irritated. This kid was just barely using one word of speech, this was way to advanced for her.

"She can't see the damn thing." House reached over and yanked her hoodie back off of her head, making her hair stick straight up again in the back. "There."

"She doesn't seem to be able to understand verbal commands."

"Well, there's a lot of us that have that same problem. Many of whom are sitting at this table right now." House chimed in, picking up the card and holding it up to Addison's face, tapping the washing machine so she could see what the correct answer was. She took the card from him, staring at it.

"Doctor House, you're presence here is as a silent observer."

"No, I think my presence here was to make sure that she doesn't bite someone's throat out, which illustrates just how much this hospital really made Addison a priority. Do you even know that she lives with Dr. Cuddy over there and would have been able to do an ample babysitting job as well? Or that she spends just as much time with Wilson as she does with me? But then, YOU didn't invite me here did you? It was the hack over there that did, the hack that knows everything." Addison, card still in hand, looked into the basket and took out another card, trying to understand the correlation.

"I think that I was invited here for a different reason. Dr. Howard is multitasking. He knows Dr. Chase, someone I employed, is mixed up in this. He wants to take the target off off his ass and put it on mine and mine... meaning Chase."

"He IS supposed to be learning from you is he not?" Howard spoke up, not believing that he was being exposed. "And you were a constant... annoyance, to my work with Addison."

"So this whole meeting really has nothing to do with Addison's well being to you does it? It's just an elaborate attempt at bitch slapping me and my employees."

"Bitch slapping? You couldn't be professional if you tried and it's effecting the progression of your staff and that girl." Howard waved his finger at Addison again, who continued to stare down at the card.

"Doctors, please." Eleanor began to try her best to quell what might turn into a physical fight between these two men. The room began to erupt around them as people began chiming in their own two sense about the issues being discussed. Meanwhile, Addison's face lit up and she looked up at Eleanor, who wasn't even close to paying attention, paying closer attention at the chaos in front of her. The only two at the table not in the middle of a fight was Cuddy and Wilson, who just looked around them and then over at Addy, who finally caught Cuddy's eye. She got up from her chair and rushed over to her with the new card in her hand, grinning.

"Pretty crazy huh, Addy?" Cuddy asked running her hand through the girl's hair. Addison put the card on the table and began tapping it as House had done.

"Did you figure it out?" Wilson asked pulling his chair up next to Addy and placing his hand on her back. His eyes got big when he saw the card. It was a series of four pictures. A plane, a car, a train and an apple. Addison's index finger was tapping the apple furiously.


	29. A Ghost of Nights Past

He was watching his fingers open and close, painfully. The people around him were making him nervous. They were all red nosed and coughing. The last thing he wanted was to get whatever they had, be stuck here again, in public... again. The cuts on his cheek and temple were almost half healed, but his eye was still giving him trouble. He was seeing blobs and they were beginning to get in the way of his vision. It took him all week to make the decision to come in. He had held his car keys in his hand so many times and gone to the door, but then changed his mind. He wasn't sure what made him feel more courageous today, maybe too much coffee.

"Mr. Abrums?" He raised his head to the name he had given the nurse.

"Yes?"

"We can take you in exam room one." He picked up his jacket, placed it over his arm and followed the nurse to the room... watching the way her body moved as she walked toward the door. Not today Tucker, not today. He tried to think of something else.

"We are getting no where." Eleanor breathed. "Maybe we do need to have Addison out of the room... and Dr. House." House and Howard were silent, glaring at each other.

"Sounds like a good idea to me too." Cuddy rose from her chair, sensing the need to place more weight into the situation. "Clinic, House, take Addy with you, we'll be done in a little while and then I'll come and get her." House never broke eye contact, never let him win. But then without a word, reached over, grabbed the deck of cards from the basket and began to walk towards the door.

"Come on Addy, this place is full of squares... and a couple of tools." Addy looked up intrigued but not really wanting to go. It seemed like there was a lot to watch in here. Presently he lifted his hand to reveal the deck of cards and she perked up, trailing after him.

The hallway was empty, just what House wanted. He was fuming. He began to limp angrily down the hallway, Addison happily bouncing around him. He tried his best to ignore her but then stopped and stood. She stopped bouncing and simply stood grinning at him, hair sticking up in all directions.

"What are you so happy about? There's a room full of morons back there talking about your future like it's a game of Risk." She kept smiling and then reached over, took his hand and pulled on it, wanting him to keep walking. House stood, surprised, she was initiating physical contact, something that was rare at best. He sighed and continued down the hallway after her.

"Addy, slow down. God, Cuddy give you coffee this morning?" Addy was practically jumping down the hallway, eager to be seeing new things, including the deck of cards in House's hand. With every jump, she would land and let out a raspberry sound from her mouth, giggling.

Bang! Thurp! Bang! Thurp! Bang! Thurp! Bang! Thurp!

"I've created a monster." House groaned. The hallway ended and opened out into the clinic, which was teaming with people, sick people.

"God." Suddenly a nurse flew towards them, arms filled with folders.

"Dr. House, thank God, can you take some of these? Hi Addy." She breathed quickly, looking desperate. House sighed again and grabbed a stack from the top.

"I've got four, two and one." He said looking at the room labels, maybe he could take some of this frustration out on a few of these clinic patients. God help them.

"I can make room for Addy at the desk if you want?" The nurse looked as though she was trying to figure out how to make the room in her mind.

"Nah, that's okay, I need an assistant any way."

"Okay..." The nurse stood confused for a moment, but then busied herself with the crowd again. House flipped open the chart and rolled his eyes, beginning to walk towards the door, Addy following close behind. He opened the door and both he and Addy saw a woman sitting on the table smiling at them.

"Hi." House stepped inside the door and held it opened for Addy who came in behind him, staying close. House had noted that since her "night out" Addison had become slightly gun shy around strangers, even more so than normal, but it had made her closer to the staff.

"Whose that?" The woman blurted out, shifting on the table slightly.

"Med student. She likes to watch." Addison eyed the woman from behind House's back, curious but wanting to keep someone there to buffer.

"She's doesn't seem like a med student."

"Neither do you, there you guys both have something in common. So what seems to be the issue?" The woman glared at Addison a moment, thinking. She shifted on the table again.

"It's a funny story, it really is..." She began forcing a laugh out.

"Well, those ARE my favorites." House got Addison's attention and pointed to the vacant seat by the window. She touched the cards in his hand, wanting to see them.

"No, later, go sit down and be quiet." Addison blew out her cheeks and let the air out, frustrated. House could see this was her version of a temper tantrum. She pulled on his hand trying to get them out herself. House knew she would only be trying this on someone she felt comfortable around, in a way it made him feel satisfied. He took the cards and put them in his pocket.

"Addison, stop. No. Go sit down." He issued sternly, making Addy dramatically through back her head and glare up at the ceiling. "Go on." House pointed to the chair again and finally Addy loped over, plunking herself loudly into the chair and pouting. House glared at her as if telling her with his eyes to stay. She did. He turned back to the patient who had been watching this exchange curiously.

"Sorry about that. Med students, so immature. So what was your deal again?"

"Um..." The woman flashed Addison a quick glance. Addison was sitting in her chair with her head on the back , staring up at the ceiling, pouting. " I got these 150 dollar jeans and they don't fit be quite... right. I was out on a date at a dance club and I bent over and they, um... they tore."

"Oh, I thought you knew, this is a MEDICAL clinic. We usually take care of medical problems." House sighed. The woman pushed out another nervous laugh and shifted.

"I know, I know. It's just that..." Thurp! I tried to fix the rip at the bar..." Thurp! "with some super glue I had in my purse and..." Thurp! House turned instantly to the chair by the window.

"Addison!" Addy scowled at him. "Stop." She pursed her lips and banged her head back onto the back of the chair. All was quiet again.

"You were getting to the point?" House stated looking back at the woman.

"I super glued my..." The woman rushed.

"Your...?"

"It was the seam in the BACK of the pants that ripped and..." House stared at the woman and then it all made sense and his eyes got huge.

"You didn't take them off?"

"The bar bathroom was full of women and the stall was so small."

"And underwear?"

"Nope." House nodded at this.

"Of course not. So you super glued your..."

"Yes."

"Shut?"

"A little." House sighed and stood.

"I'm going to need some help on this one and by that I mean some lowly med student."

"I thought she was a med student."

"No, I mean a REAL med student."

House left the room with Addison in tow, scribbling on the paperwork in the folder and handing it to the charge nurse.

"Patient in exam room four needs to stop sniffing glue... through her butt." The nurse took the form quizzically and began filing it.

"Guy in room one's been waiting a while, might want to get to him next, think he got in a bar fight or something."

"Great, quick and uninteresting. Let's make him wait a little longer." Addison whined and pulled on House's hand, pointing to the pocket the cards were in.

"Not yet. Stop." She whined louder and stamped her foot on the floor.

"What does she want?" The nurse looked concerned.

"To get her way. She's not getting it." He said this slowly and clearly for her to hear. "Not. Yet."

"I'm sure I can make room for her out here." The nurse began again.

"Are you a mother?"

"Yes."

"Ever notice your kids don't really mind being sent to their rooms?" The nurse was silent.

"All of their toys are up there. Nope, I think Addy's going to stay with boring old Dr. House for a little bit and learn some patience. Make some use out of this useless day." He began once again towards exam room two, this time Addy didn't follow. She stood next to the nurse's station, scowling.

"Addison, come on." She pointed to his pocket. "No. Later." He began walking again to the door. Alone. "Okay, fine, if you want it that way." He continued and then tapped the cards in his pocket. She looked around her, sighed and then rushed up behind him. He was almost afraid to open the door this time. But he opened the door and they went in.

"Need help now." Both he and Addison looked up to see a man standing next to the exam table with a black plastic bag over his left hand. "Who's that?" House sighed at the question.

"Does it matter?"

"Guess not."

"Okay, so what's behind curtain number one there?" House pointed to the bag. The man sighed and then painfully removed the bag. The man's forearm emerged and then his wrist and then... and then... a small dead Chihuahua with a bullet hole in it's head clamped onto the man's hand. House smiled and snorted out through his nose.

"Rigor mortis kicked in fast, huh?" House scoffed.

"This is my wife's thousand dollar show dog, she goes off to a grooming convention and the damn thing turns on me!"

It took several people to get the dog off. House and Addison mostly just sitting back and watching, the war over the deck of cards taking a back seat over the sheer amount of entertainment going on in front of them. This day was actually turning out to not be that bad, House thought to himself as he grabbed his last file for exam room one. He would, no doubt, be facing a cranky, impatient man on the other side of the door. It was funny, since the last exam room, Addy had forgotten about the cards and seemed to be interested to go with House. It was almost as if she was thinking that each room would be more entertaining then the last. She followed him without a fight to the last door and when it opened was the first one in. House smiled at her excitement and then smiled again at the disappointment on her face when all she found was a man with his back to them without any bag over any part of his body. House recognized the same feelings in himself.

"Hi, I'm Doctor House."

"Thank God, I've been waiting for..." the man turned fell instantly silent. He stood and stared at Addison who was looking out the window. The man was boring from the get go and once she saw there was not going to be a bag involved with this patient and that she would be told to be quiet, she immediately went to the window.

"You're probably wondering who that is... seems like everyone is today. That is Harriet Taubman. I know, most people think that she's dead... and black, but nope, once again the history books were wrong." House looked at the man's face. His eye was nearly swollen shut and his lip was split and from the way he was breathing out of his mouth, he assumed this guy was nursing a full on broken nose, one that hadn't received proper medical attention.

"I'm sorry, I think I'm going to have to go. I didn't think I would be waiting this long and..." Addison stood at the window and heard the talking behind her. Suddenly her body went numb. She recognized BOTH of the voices behind her.


	30. The Hunter Becomes The Hunted

"Are you sure that you don't want to stay? I can make that nose look way more attractive or if you don't want that, I can make it easier to breathe out of. But hey, I don't want to push my western ideals on you." Tucker stood watching the shape at the window with his peripheral vision. She wasn't moving. Maybe she wouldn't recognize him. It was dark that night, right? What the hell was going on? What was she doing here? He had been trying to forget that night since it had happened two weeks ago. The cops had taken in the lie about a bar fight, he had gotten a rush from that, being able to slip right through their fingers. But now here she was, like some damn unlucky penny. His nose whistled and throbbed. If he bolted now...

Addison gripped the window sill with white knuckles. She didn't want to turn around, she was too afraid to move. All of a sudden her leg started shaking and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't get it to stop. Her fingers moved from the window sill to her mouth and she began gnawing on her fingernails, she had bitten them down to the point of pain, but continued, a tear running down her cheek.

"I, uh, I know..." Tucker half laughed and ran his hand through his hair, nervously. "It's just... my boss, um... I thought I would be out of here a lot sooner."

"Yeah, because normally hospitals DO actually have drive up windows out front." House turned for a moment to make sure Addy was behaving, she was being awfully quiet. But when he turned he saw her leg shaking and looked up to see her reflection in the window, something was wrong.

"Addison?" Addy swallowed but didn't turn around. Suddenly everything came rushing into mind. The man's injuries, they looked about two weeks old, Addison's reaction. Plus the fact that every other patient that day had asked who she was and this guy wasn't even acting like she existed. This was him. He had to act normal.

"What if I tell you that I can fix this in ten minutes? Would that change your mind?" The man didn't seem to notice the change in House's demeanor. Tucker was weighing the options. Ten minutes? There seemed to be something wrong with the girl, how come she hadn't said anything. He had noticed that something was wrong with her that night. She had never said anything. Maybe she couldn't. He smiled internally. It was going to be okay.

"Yeah, I guess, if it's only ten minutes, feels pretty terrible right now." House forced a smile onto his face.

"I bet it does. Ever seen Million Dollar Baby?"

"Yeah."

"So then you know what I'm going to do."

"Oh crap." Tucker laughed a little, remembering the scene where Hillary Swank's nose was reset. This was going to suck. House turned and instantly looked down at the floor, thinking. What was he going to do? He had to keep the guy here long enough to call someone. How would he call someone or keep the guy here without it looking suspicious. How could he get Addison out of the room? He limped over to the window, reached into his pocket and took out the cards, placing them on the sill. He looked up at Addison, who slowly met his eyes, tears were streaming down now and she bit her bottom lip, nervously, a small hiccup leaving her system. He tried to communicate with her with just his eyes as if to say ," I know, it's going to be okay." He hoped it was working. She didn't even look down at the cards, the battle was over. House inhaled, putting his mind back into it,

"How did this happen anyway?" He turned back to the man and began busing himself with getting his latex gloves.

"Stupid, really."

"Usually is."

"The Patriots lost." Tucker smiled, it was all going to okay. It would hurt and then it wouldn't and the he would be gone.

"So you're saying your home grown plastic surgery was some sort of bet repayment?" House tried to control his breathing, it was starting to get quick as he closed the cabinet.

"Nope, buddy of mine, huge Patriots fan. Me, not so much. Couldn't keep my mouth shut."

"Or your hands to yourself." House let it slip. He couldn't stop it from happening, his blood pressure was through the roof at this point.

"What?" The man jumped a little, did he know?

"Well, you've got bruising on your knuckles. I'm assuming this "buddy" of yours probably isn't a "buddy" of yours anymore not just because of your mouth." Tucker breathed easy again.

"Yeah, you're right, he's pretty pissed." God, what do I do? What do I do? House hoped that his inner conflict wasn't written all over his face.

"Okay, so I'm going to reset it, so deep breaths, here." House was actually excited about this part. He stood in front of the man and gripped both sides of his nose. "Now, I think parts of the bone have begun to graft together so it might take a couple of tries."

"Damn it." Tucker gripped his pant legs and looked up.

"Here we go." House made his voice sound breezy as he laid his hands on either side of the man's nose. With one swift move, he snapped the entire bridge of the nose to the right. There was a loud popping and Tucker screamed at the top of his lungs, his fingers nearly tearing through the cloth on his pants. Addison spun around, hiccuping wildly. House winked at her. "Okay, so now the bones are free. Let's get this puppy set." House tried to hide his grin and wrenched the bones in completely the opposite direction.

"Son of a bitch! Stop! Stop!" Tucker yelled again as blood began pour out of the nostrils. The pain shot up to his eyes and around the back of his head. He was going to throw up.

"Oops, looks like I pulled it too far. I'm going to have to work it some more."

"No! No! Don't! It's fine."

"Can't stop now, your circulation's going to be screwed up." House got a good grip. "Couple more times."

"No! I'm telling you to stop!"

"I don't know why, but being around you makes me think that No, means yes."

"What?" Tucker stared for a moment and then House snapped the bridge to the right and the left, Tucker's eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.

"God this guy's a woos." House stated looking down at his motionless body. The minute he was out, Addy ran to House and buried her face into his chest, holding onto him so tight he thought he wouldn't be able to breath. "Okay." He breathed shaking a little himself at the thought that this guy might regain conciseness any second. "Okay, Addy, it's okay. We've gotta' call someone." he put his hand on her back and then began limping towards the phone. She didn't let go but hugged him closer, shaking, following him over to the phone. It was hard to make his way over to the receiver with her attached to him, and with his cane, but he finally made it. He picked it up and dialed three numbers.

"Tell them the meeting needs to be let out now and call the cops."


	31. The Terrible Twos

It had been eight minutes since Tucker had gone unconscious. He was in the center of the exam room, laid out on the table, mouth hanging open. The door to the room had been locked, it was just a matter of time now before he woke up and realized that the jig was up.

"Are we sure this is the guy?" Cuddy paced in front of the door.

"Pretty sure" House watched her as Addy continued to cling to him. He placed his hand on her back.

" We don't have any tangible evidence. If this isn't him and we've detained him..."

"You weren't there. His injuries are in keeping with Addison's, not to mention she had a major freak out, once he opened his mouth."

"And she's not just stranger shy again?" Cuddy now walked up to Addy and got close to her face, pushing her hair back. Addy was hiccuping and slowly turned away from her, burying her face into House's side.

"There was a guy in here earlier that was 10 times sketchier than him and I didn't have a human shaped goiter attached to my side."

All of a sudden there was the sound of feet hitting the floor in the exam room and then those in the hallway watched as the handle jiggled on the door.

"Oh, damn it. Hello? Hello?" Tucker was pulling with all of his might on the handle and was getting more and more angry. "God damn it, let me out of here!" There was the sound of police sirens and the jiggle on the handle became more frantic and then the pounding began. "Let me the hell out of here right now!"

"Ever seen someone get that anxious about cop sirens who DOESN'T have a guilty conscious, or isn't just plain guilty?" Within minutes there were three police officers walking through the lobby of the hospital and into the elevators. Addison began watching still from the safety of House's side. The elevator doors opened and they emerged.

"Where is he?" The first one out of the elevator never changed his expression. Just then there was another pounding on the door and he knew where he was. Cuddy handed the officer the key to the door and he took it.

"Mr. Abrums, this is Officer Manning, I'm coming in." The police officer began to work the key in the lock and suddenly something happened with Addison. She pulled away from House and began walking towards the door. House managed to grab her wrist.

"Whoa, whoa. whoa, where do you think you're going?" House tried to pull her back and then the door was opened. Tucker stood in the middle of the room with an air filled syringe next to his neck. With one quick flick of the wrist, Addy pulled free and with all her speed went barreling at Tucker. He didn't know what to make of the situation and froze. It was mere seconds before she was on top of him, knocking him over, taking her fists and pounding them into his face and nose. House and Cuddy shot into the room, House threw his cane aside and reached squarely underneath Addy's arms, pulling her up and in the meantime, loosing his balance and falling backward with Addy tightly in his arms struggling to get out.

"Shhhhhh, take it easy, take it easy, shhhhhh." House was out of breath, on the floor. "I know, it's okay." Cuddy rushed up to the pair as the police began dealing with Tucker. Cuddy crouched down and began trying to help calm the girl who was still fighting in House's arms.

"Addison, stop, it's okay, it's over. It's over sweetheart." Nothing Cuddy was saying was helping, Addy simply kept watching the man on the floor being hand cuffed by the cops and getting more and more agitated. "Her hearts going a mile a minute." Cuddy stated frantically, watching Addy's jugular in her neck bulge. She kicked her feet, throwing her weight around and screaming. House painfully put his god leg over the top her hers, sighed and grabbed Addy's face with a free hand. He pulled it quickly towards his, looking her dead in the eye like a dog trying to prove dominance.

"Addison. Stop... Enough. It's over." Addy searched his eyes for weakness and found none. The cops had Tucker off the floor by this point and were moving him out of the room. Her eyes broke from House's glare and began to track Tucker out of the room. House could feel her heart again on his chest. "Addison, look at me!" He stated, moving her face in his hand to get her attention. It worked, she was locked back in. "It's over... it's ALL over." Tucker disappeared around the corner with the officers and Addy became limp in House's arms, crying. He let her legs loose and just held her tightly, worried she might get another serge of energy.

"You ever seen her do that?" House asked Cuddy from the floor. Cuddy shook her head, sighing.

"Nope."

"She's reached her terrible twos, she's testing her boundaries, learning how to say no." He looked down at Addy and saw to his shock that she had actually fallen asleep in his arms.


	32. Justice is Blind and Mute

Authors Note: Wow! It's been forever! I am currently in the midst of NaNoWriMo right now and decided that when I hit my word count for the day, I would treat myself to updating this old story. So this is a small piece to give you a taste of what's to come.

"There's going to be a trial, do you understand what that means, a trial?" Cuddy stared hard at Addison's face from across the kitchen table. The girl stared back at Cuddy, equally as hard and even more blankly. "God, how can I explain this to you?" She looked down at her spoon hoping that somehow the answer would lie there, but obviously found none. How could she tell her, her mother was going to be released pending a trial, she would move from a jail to mental hospital and then finally a half way house if the judge got his way. Things had been easy with Tucker, once the police had him in custody they were able to link DNA to almost all of the victims they had found, only taking the physical evidence of Addy's assault. She didn't need to take the witness stand, at the time everyone including the police felt that this was an impossible feet and so abandoned the idea very early on in the case. But now, just months after the entire ordeal had come to an end, Cuddy sat across from this poor girl and tried to explain what was on the horizon. She grimaced and stood, running a hand through the girl's short hair sadly before bringing her bowl to the kitchen sink. Would there ever be a way of telling her? Should she just tell the judge as they had done with Tucker that Addison taking the witness stand was impossible and allow her mother to simply get placed back on the streets after a year? She was lost in the fog of these questions when all of a sudden there was a hard knock on the front door, making her nearly fall over in suprise. But, based on the silhouette, she could already tell who it was and her heart sank for the second time that morning.  
"Come in House." She groaned and within seconds, House was entered the home.  
"Did you tell her yet?" He yelled from the hall, not even wanting to wait until he got to the kitchen.  
"No, she called back, I'm not sure if I can." Cuddy hated to admit defeat to the man who had told her from the get go that it would be close to impossible for Addison to understand the concept of the legal system. He smiled a winning smile as he slammed himself down in the nearest seat at the table.  
"I see the oven is on. You must be baking. Wouldn't be crow pie would it? It's a little to early for me to have some, but I'd love to watch you eat it." His grinned was plastered firmly on his face and no amount of eye rolling from Cuddy was going to dislodge it.  
"I can't believe you're taking pleasure over this." Cuddy turned her back to the table and began putting the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher.  
"You can't? Hi, I'm Greg House, have we met?" He leaned on his cane and studied Addison who was started banging her spoon inside her cereal bowl with a furrowed brow.  
"Can you bring the bowl to me Addy, so I can put it in the dishwasher?" Addison continued to bang on the bowl even louder, this time shouting with every bang. "Addison." Cuddy turned, making her voice suddenly become stern. Addy only grew louder with her banging, watching Cuddy's reaction. "Addison, stop and bring me the bowl." She looked her squarely in the eye, shoulders locked hoping that she was exuding some form of dominance, but began to feel like it was a loosing battle. Addison got louder and to her surprise stood up on the chair where she was sitting and began banging louder on the bowl, shouting almost at the top of her lungs. House was shocked, he had never seen Addison act out this way, even with him. He looked to Cuddy who didn't seem shocked at all. She was standing her ground by the sink, hands across her chest, teeth gritted against the onslaugh of noise.  
"Is this new?" House yelled over the din, almost tempted to put his hands up over his ears.  
"Every day now for the past week." Cuddy yelled back, not taking her eyes from the girl, who kept hers locked on Cuddys. It had become a stand off and House couldn't tell which one was winning. Eventually he couldn't take it any more and he stood, grabbing the bowl from Addison and issuing a stern,  
"Enough." Addison's eyes finally left Cuddy's and she gave House a frustrated look, almost tearing, stepped down from the chair, walked down the hallway and slammed her door behind her. Cuddy's hands found her eyes and she stood massaging her temples for a good two minutes before speaking.  
"She's been like this since Tucker. I don't know what happened. She's retreating back to her old ways, getting distant, yelling instead of pointing. Please tell me that I'm not screwing this up more. Please tell me that she shouldn't be in some state run group home." She moved her hands down her face and they fell back into their folded position on her chest.  
"I'm not going to tell you that." House watched her from under her eyebrows and she looked up from her place on the floor. "I'm not going to because I don't know. None of us do." Cuddy realized for the second time that morning that House was right and neither time did she really want him to be at all.  
The hospital was quiet, for the first time in months, as they entered the elevator and rode it up in complete silence. Addison stood next to Cuddy looking at her feet, hands behind her back, gripping her elbows. Cuddy had managed to get her into a hoodie and jeans, somehow and into the car. By the grace of God, she told herself and now she just waited for the volcano to erupt again. But when the elevator dinged and there were no melt downs, she stepped off with a slight more hope in her step. Maybe today would be a better day. She took a sip of her cold coffee and winced, it could only go up from here, right? Addison made a direct bee line for House's office the moment she stepped from the elevator, to her usual spot in his large black arm chair. This had been the way for several weeks now as Addison's therapist was on vacation and Cuddy was perpetually busy with meetings in the morning.  
"See you in a few hours Addison." Cuddy yelled to the back of her head and disappeared into her office, ashamed at the feeling of slight relief that Addison would be elsewhere for a short time. There were at least ten yellow sticky notes already piled on her desk as she set her cup down and began to remove her jacket. She was happy to know what to do with them and not have to guess like she had been with Addy recently.  
House limped into his office and instantly walked to his small television, clicking it on for Addison and changing the station to MTV, something that he noticed the prior week kept her quiet for the length of Cuddy's meetings. PBS was the station Cuddy had told him to put his TV to, but two hours of finding your inner child every morning was doing neither of them any good. Addison pulled her knees up to her chest and watched episode of The Real World with marked concentration. House began to take off his jacket and sift through the pile of files on his desk, leaning his cane along one side of the swivel chair and taking a seat. He was enjoying the silence when suddenly Addison began shouting again, causing him to jump from his seat. She pointed to the TV and yelled from her seat.  
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"  
"What? What is it?" House looked from the frustrated girl to the TV screen to find that the television had gone to a commercial break and he rolled his eyes. "It's a commercial. You've seen those before." She stopped for a moment to listen to what he was saying with a furrowed brow and then started up again, pointing.  
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" He sighed and came around the front of the desk.  
"I know they're annoying, but I can't do anything about it. You have to just wait until it's over." She continued to yell and point. "Addison, if you don't stop I'm going to shut it off, is that what you want?" Her face got frantic as she pointed and yelled. "Okay, that's it." And with a flick of the remote, the screen went black and Addison erupted. Her hands went wild and she began to pull her hair and hit herself on the forehead, making an enormous red mark across the skin. Instantly House flicked back on the television, the show was back on and he put his hands up.  
"Easy, easy. Take it easy." Addison breathed heavily and looked from House's eyes to the screen and back again before retreating back to the black arm chair and curling back up. But to House's surprise she wasn't looking anywhere near the television, but out into the hallway where several nurses were leering over their desks at the commotion. House watched her for a moment, mind racing and limped back behind his desk. He watched her as he picked up the phone and dialed.  
"Hi, this is Greg House. Who's on call while Stark is on vacation? Well, can I get him up here as soon as he's free? Thank you." He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair and watched and waited. 


	33. Sink or Swim

"Hi Addison, I'm Doctor Bower. Do you remember me? We met a long time ago." Addison sat in the black armchair unmoving still staring out at the hallway. "Dr. House says you're having a rough day, huh?" Bower, a thirty something doctor, fresh out of med school, had no clue where to begin with the seemingly catatonic girl. He had been in the group of observers for the first week Addison had arrived and found her beyond interesting but impossibly intimidating. He gulped back his nerves now and made some useless hen scratch on his clipboard. Why was Stark on vacation now? Damn it.

House sat in the adjoining room, trying to act as though he was paying attention to the case his team was working on, fifty year old weight lifter whose back and knees and suddenly given way during a competition, but as always his mind was really on the goings on in his office. That young idiot wasn't going to be able to do anything. He stood by the white board and instantly regretted making the call. The puzzle of Addison's sudden mood change was being to be far more interesting than the meat head on the hospital room down the hall.

Dr. Bower, sighed and looked into the girl's eyes he was at a complete loss.

"Dr. House says that you like television." How do you find common ground with someone who is unaware of what common ground even is? He walked to the television and flicked it on. Standing in front of the screen with his arms crossed watching a music video of two girls bouncing on a trampoline dressed only in cheerleader outfits. He grimaced and changed the channel and suddenly noticed that he wasn't the only one paying attention to the screen. From the corner of his eye, he could see Addison watching what he was doing. "What do you want to watch, huh?" He changed the channels with the remote and soon, Addison, hood pulled up over her head, bruise beginning to spread on her forehead, walked slowly over to him and watched as the channels flicked by. House watched from the conference room, while crossing off symptoms. "This one?" Bower stopped on one station, "this one?" He went to the next and then the next, he was beginning to give up when suddenly Addy jumped up and down, banging on the screen with her hand. He stopped changing the channels and stared at the screen. Addy smiled and banged the glass hard with her hand.

"This? This is what you want to watch?" He stood back and watched Addison sit down on the floor inches from the screen. House set down the white board marker, right in the middle of a battle between Chase and Foreman over symptoms and limped into his office desperately wanting to gain a clue as to what Addison was thinking. Bower smiled at the doctor, feeling triumphant, the smile was not returned by House, who could care less about his "little victory". "She seems to be responding to this for some reason." The two stood back and watched as Addy watched three girls in a hot tub with three other men, all with beers in their hands, laughing and flirting with each other. It appeared to be some sort of reality show other than the Real World and as House stood there he began to put the pieces together.

"She's all grown up." House limped into Cuddy's office and shut the door behind him.

"What are you talking about?" Cuddy looked up from the hundreds of forms she was initialing and waited.

"Addison. She needs to be with people her own age."

"What?"

"Do you remember what it was like when your parents stopped being cool? When you were embarrassed by them? You'd rather have a medical procedure than be seen in public with them?"

"Yes, what's your point?" Cuddy sighed.

"These times of her acting out. The tantrums, the yelling. She's getting claustrophobic with us. "Mom" and "Dad" aren't cutting it anymore." House sat down in the chair in front of her desk and leaned back.

"So what are we supposed to do, get her in a play group with other twenty year olds?" There was a moments pause and suddenly Cuddy got an idea and a smile spread across her face, "we can do that."

Cuddy put the car in park and sighed. This was the last place on earth she wanted to be, but as she watched House's car pull up next to hers, she figured at least she would have someone else to talk to. Addy sat in the passenger's seat watching the other people in the parking lot coming and going with interest. House stepped from his car and leaned on his cane, looking begrudgingly at the building in front of him teaming with people. Hell on earth.

"I can't believe you came." Cuddy laughed as she opened her car door and stepped out.

"Purely science related Doctor Cuddy. I want to see if my theory was right. Just wondering why it has to be here." He opened the passenger door and let Addison out, Cuddy having activated the child safety locks in the car ever since her disappearance.

"And where would you have had me bring her, a strip joint?" Cuddy came around the front of the car, sighing.

"Hey, sink or swim, at least they would have had some beer." Addy stared at the building and leaned into Cuddy shyly causing Cuddy to feel a surge of motherly instinct, she was still needed. She put an arm around the girl and began to walk toward the building, easing Addy along with her.

"It's going to be alright." She smiled and the three made there way into the Three Corner Leaf Mall.

Across town, a woman in a striped pant suit sat in front of a woman dressed in an orange jumpsuit. The two sat under the glow of a humming light inside a nearly sound proof room. The only sound that seeped through the walls was the low rattle of cell doors opening and shutting and the occasional yell of a prison guard.

"So we are clear on how you will answer that question?" The striped woman asked, bending over the steel table between them and clicking her pen.

"Yes." The woman in orange let out a small smile, which quickly faded.

"Things are looking up Beverly, I assure you. I promise that we can get the plea we are asking for, as long as we stick to this script." Beverly Hopwood nodded and wrung her hands under the table. For two months now, she had been in this den of sinners, a place she did not belong. But as Jesus had communed with the leapers and come out clean, so would she. She would come out of the flames of hell, a whole woman, of that she was sure.


End file.
